The impact of gender and parenthood on physicians' careers - professional and personal situation seven years after graduation

BACKGROUND: The profile of the medical profession is changing in regard to feminization, attitudes towards the profession, and the lifestyle aspirations of young physicians. The issues addressed in this study are the careers of female and male physicians seven years after graduation and the impact of parenthood on career development. METHODS: Data reported originates from the fifth assessment (T5) of the prospective SwissMedCareer Study, beginning in 2001 (T1). At T5 in 2009, 579 residents (81.4% of the initial sample at T1) participated in the questionnaire survey. They were asked about occupational factors, career-related factors including specialty choice and workplace, work-life balance and life satisfaction. The impact of gender and parenthood on the continuous variables was investigated by means of multivariate and univariate analyses of variance; categorical variables were analyzed using Chi-square tests. RESULTS: Female physicians, especially those with children, have lower rates of employment and show lower values in terms of career success and career support experiences than male physicians. In addition, parenthood has a negative impact on these career factors. In terms of work-life balance aspired to, female doctors are less career-oriented and are more inclined to consider part-time work or to continue their professional career following a break to bring up a family. Parenthood means less career-orientation and more part-time orientation. As regards life satisfaction, females show higher levels of satisfaction overall, especially where friends, leisure activities, and income are concerned. Compared to their male colleagues, female physicians are less advanced in their specialty qualification, are less prone to choosing prestigious surgical fields, have a mentor less often, more often work at small hospitals or in private practice, aspire less often to senior hospital or academic positions and consider part-time work more often. Any negative impact on career path and advancement is exacerbated by parenthood, especially as far as women are concerned. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study reflect socially-rooted gender role stereotypes. Taking into account the feminization of medicine, special attention needs to be paid to female physicians, especially those with children. At an early stage of their career, they should be advised to be more proactive in seeking mentoring and career-planning opportunities. If gender equity in terms of career chances is to be achieved, special career-support measures will have to be provided, such as mentoring programs, role models, flexitime and flexible career structures

A Model of Leader Identities: Self and Social Spheres of Influence

Presentation given at S. Lynn Shollen and Constance Campbell at the 2nd Biennial Conference of the International Leadership Association Women & Leadership Affinity Group. Program This paper focuses on the relationship of leader identities with two of the spheres of influence in the model being discussed: self-identities and social identities. Presenters will relate construction of leader identities to the cognitive, emotional, and personality factors that influence self-identities as well as the various social identities, including gender identities

A Capacious Fluid Model of Leader(ship) Identities

Presentation given by Chrys Egan, Constance Campbell, S. Lynn Shollen, Kelly Fisher, Wendy Fox-Kirk, Karen Longman, Brionne G. Neilson at the Women and Leadership Affinity Group Conference

A Bioecological Approach to Leadership Identity Construction

Presentation given by Kelly Fisher, Wendy Fox-Kirk, Chrys Egan, S. Lynn Shollen, Constance Campbell, Karen A. Longman, and Brionne G. Neilson at Academy of Management annual meeting

Pre-conference Workshop: A Capacious Fluid Model of Leader(Ship) Identities

Presentation given by Chrys Egan, Constance Campbell, S. Lynn Shollen, Kelly Fisher, Wendy Fox-Kirk, Karen Longman, and Brionne G. Neilson at the International Leadership Association annual meeting

Mentoring Interventions for Underrepresented Scholars in Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences: Effects on Quality of Mentoring Interactions and Discussions

Mentors rarely receive education about the unique needs of underrepresented scholars in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. We hypothesized that mentor-training and peer-mentoring interventions for these scholars would enrich the perceived quality and breadth of discussions between mentor–protégé dyads (i.e., mentor–protégé pairs). Our multicenter, randomized study of 150 underrepresented scholar–mentor dyads compared: 1) mentor training, 2) protégé peer mentoring, 3) combined mentor training and peer mentoring, and 4) a control condition (i.e., usual practice of mentoring). In this secondary analysis, the outcome variables were quality of dyad time and breadth of their discussions. Protégé participants were graduate students, fellows, and junior faculty in behavioral and biomedical research and healthcare. Dyads with mentor training were more likely than those without mentor training to have discussed teaching and work–life balance. Dyads with peer mentoring were more likely than those without peer mentoring to have discussed clinical care and career plans. The combined intervention dyads were more likely than controls to perceive that the quality of their time together was good/excellent. Our study supports the value of these mentoring interventions to enhance the breadth of dyad discussions and quality of time together, both important components of a good mentoring relationship