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. 2015 Dec 16:351:h6311.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.h6311.

Plenty of moustaches but not enough women: cross sectional study of medical leaders

Mackenzie R Wehner  1 , Kevin T Nead  2 , Katerina Linos  3 , Eleni Linos  4
Affiliations

Plenty of moustaches but not enough women: cross sectional study of medical leaders

Mackenzie R Wehner et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objectives: To draw attention to sex related disparities in academic medical leadership by investigating the representation of female leaders compared with leaders with moustaches.

Design: Cross sectional analysis.

Setting: Academic medical departments in the United States.

Participants: Clinical department leaders (n=1018) at the top 50 US medical schools funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Main outcome measures: The proportions of female leaders and moustachioed leaders across institutions and specialties (n=20). Additionally, the moustache index: the proportion of women compared with the proportion of moustaches, analyzed with multinomial logistic regression models.

Results: Women accounted for 13% (137/1018) of department leaders at the top 50 NIH funded medical schools in the US. Moustachioed leaders accounted for 19% (190/1018). The proportion of female department leaders ranged from 0% (0/20) to 26% (5/19) across institutions and 0% (0/53) to 36% (19/53) across specialties. Only seven institutions and five specialties had more than 20% of female department leaders. The overall moustache index of all academic medical departments studied was 0.72 (95% confidence interval 0.58 to 0.90; P=0.004). Only six of 20 specialties had more women than moustaches (moustache index >1).

Conclusions: Moustachioed individuals significantly outnumber women as leaders of medical departments in the US. We believe that every department and institution should strive for a moustache index ≥1. Known, effective, and evidence based policies to increase the number of women in leadership positions should be prioritized.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: MRW, KL, and EL are women. KTN is a man and does not currently have a moustache. All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare: no support from any organization for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

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Fig 1  Flow chart of data collection
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Fig 2  Facial hair categories
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Fig 3  Percentage of female department leaders by institution and specialty. OBGYN=obstetrics and gynecology; PM&R=physical medicine and rehabilitation
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Fig 4  Percentage of moustachioed department leaders by institution and specialty. OBGYN=obstetrics and gynecology; PM&R=physical medicine and rehabilitation
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Fig 5  Moustache index (percentage of women/percentage moustachioed individuals) by institution and specialty. OBGYN=obstetrics and gynecology; PM&R=physical medicine and rehabilitation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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