Scouting for talent: Appointment practices or women professors in academic medicine - Van den Brink - 2011 - Article

Preface

Today, the medicine program consists of at least as many women as men. So one would expect that the number of female high positions has also increased, but this is not the case. With each step higher in the rank, there are proportionally fewer women. This phenomenon is also called the leaking pipeline. For example, the third-rate male/female ratio is 60/40, the second is 70/30, etc. This phenomenon means a loss of talent. In fact, the under-representation of women in medical care has implications for students, health care and medical research.

A field of work in which gender is well balanced, i.e. where as many men and women are present, can offer a more diverse set of role models to students. Students learn from doctors and now that doctor is usually a man. It can also provide a more representative healthcare for patients. In addition, it also has a positive impact on more effective healthcare that meets the growing needs of society and hospitals.

The long-term success of academic healthcare centers is linked to the development of a women's faculty. So it is thought that successful centers are positively influenced by the women who work there. That is why the problem of under-representation of women in medical care really needs to be addressed. Nowadays, researchers say that gender distribution is actually due to women's personal choices: potential factors include lower productivity, conflicts between family roles and professional roles, or poor career motivation and investment. However, it has been proven that there are still significant differences in rewards and opportunities between men and women that cannot be explained by differences in productivity or career motivation.

It is possible that academic cultures cause these differences. However, organizational structures, such as admission and selection for promotion, have not yet been considered. It is shown in this study that female talent is overlooked because of the dominant methods of recruitment in combination with the embedded fact that women are different and are considered less suitable. People have prejudices that make women less likely to become doctors.

Theoretical perspective

The theoretical framework is supported by social constructivism. This means that one rejects the view of the social world as a fixed or objective thing that is external to the individual and influences it in a deterministic way. In short: the social world is not objective or external, it is subjective and depends on the characteristics of an individual. Social constructivism views the social world as organized by individuals through their social choices. This shifts the emphasis from a gender as an individual trait to gender as a socially assembled application. People are now looking at how men and women 'express' their gender and how men and women contribute to the design of gender identity. By expressing gender is meant that a distinction is made between men and women in daily life. They look at how certain ideas are fully integrated into what we now call common sense . Some ideas are reflexive, others not.

Method

This study looked at professional recruitment and selection in the Netherlands. About 50% of the students are women, but the proportion of female professors is only 13% of the total. This under-representation can clearly be seen in the Netherlands, which is why the research was conducted in the Netherlands.

Most academic specialists have four tasks: patient care, research, teaching medical students, and management work. As there are higher salaries in general hospitals, many young specialists move away from academic medicine to earn more in a general hospital. This means that there are many vacancies in academic hospitals, there is an increased workload and less research can be done. On the other hand, some people want to work in academic hospitals because they have more types of responsibilities and the ability to teach new generations of specialists.

Data collection and analysis

The research comprises both qualitative and quantitative data. The quantitative data consists of an analysis of 286 reports that contain almost all appointments from medical professors. It includes written reports: work profile, the vacancy itself, list of candidates, the committee and the final recommendations of one or two nominees. In addition, it also contained information about the number of men and women, how they were selected and the type of recruitment (open/closed). The government must actually be open for recruitment, but it is also regularly closed (i.e. within its own organization) because there are no sanctions. The qualitative data includes interviews with 21 men and women who play the role of scout. The interviewers had to describe the recruitment process and give attention to the arguments of the committee.

The leaking pipeline

The female talent comes from two sides: the number of female PhDs and the number of female medical specialists. The total number of female specialists at the time of this study (2011) was 37%.

Organization of the recruitment process

77% of the application procedures were closed. This means that people looked internally without creating advertisement. So people actually had to be selected via networks. This means that not every candidate with the right skills has a chance at the job. After all, if you work in another hospital, you may not be noticed by scouts in another hospital. Scouts have an important contribution. They keep an eye on everything and know early on who might be suitable and not. Many found the use of scouts justified. This is because the number of potential candidates is not that large in this way and remains easy to oversee. Sometimes the demand exceeds the supply; there is a competition going on and candidates often have many career opportunities.

It is claimed that the risk of a candidate being taken away by another hospital shows that scouting is more effective than an open procedure. If you have someone in mind, you want to be hired quickly and this is not possible with an open procedure, it takes too long.

However, these recruitment procedures are not in line with European laws. In the Netherlands there is a law for equal treatment, but because scouts are seen as 'gender neutral', this is not seen as a violation of the law. One should actually conduct open applications, but there are no penalties for not doing so. Scouts thought there were more open procedures, but this is not the case.

Gender selection in recruitment

Women are thought to be overlooked by three possible factors: exclusive networking practices, seeing women as different in their level of commitment, and leadership style perceptions.

1. Exclusive network practices: you need a network. But since most scouts are middle-aged men, they look for a fairly homogeneous group. When a group consists of more men than women, men have a more homogeneous network than women. So there is more chance that a man will be scouted than a woman. Men indicate that they prefer to work with men because of the perceived equality. They think women are dangerous because their behavior is so unpredictable. Men are not convinced of the possibilities of a woman. Women have to be on the right track with their career if they want to stand out. So there are actually double standards: women have to prove much more if they want the same opportunities as men.
2. Dedication: work in the medical world is not seen as work, but more as a way of life. There was doubt about the ambition and dedication of women. Scouts think that women do not have as much left for work as men do. They say that women do not see their work as the most important thing. Moreover, more women work part-time. Scouts say that you can, but you don't have a chance to become a full professor. Even if you were on the right track full-time and then started working part-time, your chance of becoming a professor has disappeared.

Moreover, the scouts said that making a career is impossible to combine with motherhood. There is still the idea that the woman should take care of the children. In reality, there is hardly any difference between the number of men and women who work part-time. There is also no difference with regard to official hours. Women declare as much as men in the medical world. In short: there is no difference in ambition between men and women, but women have to prove much more than men.

3. Leadership style: men are seen as strong and authoritarian. Women are seen as less authoritarian. Women often make a too modest impression and it is thought that they will not survive in stressful situations. They do not defend themselves and cannot make decisions. Physical appearance is also important: a little girl-like woman is less likely to stand a chance.

Male and female scouts

There are more male scouts. This could cause an uneven distribution. Men are more likely to look for men.

Conclusion

Most professors were recruited by a closed procedure (77%) and the recruitment was mainly based on perceptions of leadership and dedication. There are many women who could be eligible to become professors, given education and results, but these are not seen.

But why? First, most scouts are middle-aged men who look for candidates within their own network, so often men. Closed recruitment creates a very small and homogeneous social group. Secondly, women are called to make wrong choices in life, such as taking care of the children. That is why women are seen as different. Men think that women with a family cannot assume another professional role. Thirdly, women are not seen as a strong leader. Talent is ignored. It is thought that women do not have the necessary leadership skills.

In international studies it would be interesting to see if they will come up with the same results. In addition, one could train scouts to remove the stereotypes. Scouts need to know that female talent is available and that women have the same ambitions as men.