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Co-chair Dr. Virginia Roth has people asking for an opportunity to sit on the Female Physician Leadership Committee. “It reaffirms that what we’re doing is important,” said Dr. Roth. “We’re very action-oriented.”

The gender imbalance between male and female doctors is turning into more of a generational issue, said Dr. Virginia Roth, co-chair of TOH’s Female Physician Leadership Committee.

Female doctors tend to avoid seeking leadership positions at TOH because they want flexibility in their lifestyles – to spend time with families and their clinical practices – and the same trend is happening with younger physicians of both sexes, she said.

“This is a generational issue; it’s not a gender issue,” Dr. Roth said. “Younger men want flexibility too.”

While more than 50 percent of medical students are women, just 30 percent of TOH’s physicians are women and even fewer are leaders.

When the committee conducted focus groups of female doctors, they found women tended to exclude themselves from leadership because the perceived costs outweighed the benefits.

“The biggest issue was time away from families and clinical work,” she said. The committee is working to dismantle other barriers, such as lack of support through mentorship, role models, parental leave policies and job flexibility; and lack of opportunities through recruitment, training and experience. Those barriers outweighed the perceived benefits of relationship development, collaboration with peers and the feeling that they could make a difference.

The committee’s goal – fully supported by senior management – is to increase the number of satisfied female doctors in administrative leadership positions at TOH.

“Gender imbalance in medical leadership is so much more than a pipeline issue,” said co-chair Dr. Kathleen Gartke.

By the numbers:

• 30 – % of female doctors at TOH (30% in 2011)
• 8 – % of female medical department heads (0% in 2011)
• 15 – % of female division heads (17% in 2011)
• 16 – female doctors on the Female Physician Leadership Committee
• 4 – departments that have maternity leave policies (out of 12)
• 90 – % of all TOH doctors who feel personal leave policies are “important”

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