|
 Women accounted for 13 percent of department leaders in the top
U.S. medical schools funded by the National Institutes of Health,
while mustachioed men made up 19 percent, the U.S. team of
researchers said in a study published in The BMJ.
"We want to increase the representation of women in academic medical
leadership by drawing attention to sex disparities," they said.
"We chose to study moustaches ... because they are rare, and we
wanted to learn if women were even rarer," they said.
All forms of moustache were counted, including the Copstash
Standard, Pencil, Handlebar and Supermario, as well as moustaches in
combination with other facial hair such as the Van Dyke, the Balbo
and the Napoleon III Imperial.
Men with beards but no moustache were excluded from the count.
The thickest moustache density was found in departments of
psychiatry, pathology and anesthesiology.
 Women made up more than 20 percent of department leaders in just
five specialities - obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics,
dermatology, family medicine, and emergency medicine.
"This is a problem not only because of the strong ethical argument
for equality but also for practical reasons: in business, having
more women leaders has been linked with better performance," the
study said.
Many employers have taken steps to reduce these gaps by adopting
policies against discrimination and sexual harassment, introducing
family-friendly benefits and offering paid parental leave.
[to top of second column] |
But more needs to be done, including increasing flexibility in
working hours and reducing unconscious bias in the hiring process,
the researchers said.
To change the study statistics, deans would have to increase the
number of women, or ask department leaders to shave their
moustaches, they said.
"The latter choice could have detrimental effects on workplace
satisfaction and emotional wellbeing of mustachioed individuals.
Deans are left with one option: to hire, retain, and promote more
women."
Earlier this year, a study found that more men named John run large
U.S. companies than women. About 5.3 percent of CEOs in S&P 1500
companies were called John, 4.5 percent were called David - and 4.1
percent were women.
(Reporting by Alex Whiting, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the
Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters,
that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking,
corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
