Author response: Women physicians underrepresented in American Academy of Neurology recognition awards

Abstract

We appreciate the comment made by Dr. Ortega, suggesting that childrearing may be the primary reason behind the underrepresentation of women among American Academy of Neurology award recipients found in our report.1 This comment speaks to the pipeline issue—that is, whether the supply of women eligible and qualified to receive these awards justifies their underrepresentation. To that end, it is critically important to use data to guide conclusions and conversations—not anecdotes, assumptions, or case studies. While childrearing may indeed affect or delay recognition and should be included in conversations about the underrepresentation of women in medicine, “the US pool of women neurology award candidates currently comprises, but is not limited to, 400+ successful and high-achieving women physicians including more than 170 full professors and more than 280 associate professors.”1,2 Given these populations, it is difficult to justify the underrepresentation found in our study. Moreover, it seems problematic to attribute underrepresentation primarily to the demands of childrearing when implicit bias has been reported to play a role in the selection of award committee members,3 as well as the nomination, evaluation, and selection of women in numerous settings.4,5