Equity for women in medicine—neonatologists identify issues

Objective Inequity between genders with regards to leadership achievement, compensation, scholarly productivity, and grant funding exist among physicians. This study explores whether similar inequities exist among board certified neonatologists within the USA. Study design A voluntary anonymous survey was distributed to 3575 members of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine with 560 respondents (15.7% response rate). The survey contained questions assessing clinician characteristics, work environment, compensation, professional productivity, and social factors. Statistical analysis was done using JMP Pro 15.0.0 by SAS. Results Female neonatologists, compared to male peers, were less likely to hold leadership positions (OR 0.36, p = 0.005), received lower compensation by an average of $34,916 or 12.47% ( p < 0.001), and had 6.71 fewer primary authored publications ( p = 0.025) after adjusting for several confounding factors. Conclusion Gender remains a significant independent factor influencing leadership attainment, compensation, and academic productivity in this cohort of neonatologists.