2147 - Comparison of Perceptions of Barriers to Advancement for Women in Radiation Oncology between Men and Women Physicians

A. Tam¹, R. Thomas², A. Kaul³, P. N. Barry³, and Y. R. Li¹; ¹Department of Radiation Oncology, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, ²City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, CA, ³University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Purpose/Objective(s): While women now comprise the majority of medical school matriculants, there continues to be a disparity in representation of women in leadership roles and an attrition in the promotion pipeline in medicine. Prior studies have shown that women physicians face unique barriers to advancement in radiation oncology. Thus, understanding how perceptions of these barriers among men and women differ may shed light on why the “leaky leadership pipeline” exists. Materials/

Methods: An anonymous survey was disseminated to the American College of Radiation Oncology (ACRO) members via email and social media between February and May 2023. In addition to demographics (age, gender, race, practice setting), respondents were asked to respond to statements about their perceptions of the gender barriers in the following domains: (a) equal access, (b) work-life balance, (c) gender bias, and (d) leadership support using a validated 5-point Likert scale. Statistical analyses with chi-square were performed using STATA.
Results: A total of 1107 respondents completed the survey. A majority of (77.1%) identified as female with 22.0% as male (the rest as either non-binary, transgendered, or decline to answer). More than half (53.8%) of participants were aged 30-39, with 76.0% identifying as (non-Hispanic) White. Only a minority (28.1%) of participants are employed at academic medical centers. Overall, we found that men and female radiation oncologists held similar perceptions, with no significant differences in rating between the two groups for 34 of the 45 statements (75.6%; p>0.05). The domains on “leadership support” and “equal access” had the most varied ratings, with significant differences in rating for five (41.7%) of 12 statements and five (26.3%) of 19 statements in the respective domain. For example, from the “leadership support” domain, 62.1% of women agreed that their chairs tried to ensure that women physicians were not subject to gender-based biases, compared to 52.9% of men (p=0.01), and 61.1% of women agreed that their chairs were supportive when women physicians talked about work-family issues, compared to 56.1% of men (p=0.02). Whereas statements from the “equal access” domain, 59.7% of women agreed that women physicians had equal access to career development opportunities (compared to 51.6% of men; p=0.01) and 61.0% of women agreed that women physicians received equitable salaries (compared to 53.3% of men; p=0.02).
Conclusion: In this survey of radiation oncologists, we found that women and men shared similar perceptions of barriers to advancement for women physicians. However, there were some varied perspectives on “leadership support” and “equal access” and, unexpectedly, more men expressed concerns about gender equality within these domains than women physicians. Future studies are needed to better understand how differences in gender bias awareness may inform policy changes to overcome the “leaky pipeline” for women in radiation oncology.