Advancement of men and women in medical academia. A pilot study.

Academic promotion patterns were studied in the facilities of four US medical colleges. The average number of years for promotion to each professional rank in each college was consistently greater for women than for men. While the data themselves do not prove discrimination, they are consistent with the underuse of female physicians in medical academia, with the lack of improvement in their statistical representation over the past 15 years, and with the picture of women in higher education in general. This topic should receive more attention, and more complete data on the relative qualifications of male and female medical faculty should be obtained.