Pandemic By Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD

Supporting Women in Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD

n September we celebrated “Women in Medicine” month, which was created to honor the growing number of women in our profession. Since 2019, a little over half of medical students have been women.1 This trend is exciting for the future of health care, especially with data showing a positive association with gender concordance of physicians and their patients.

There is less knowledge that currently 77% of frontfacing health care and long-term care workers caring directly for patients are women,2 who unfortunately also had higher rates of COVID-19 infection. Despite efforts to advance women in medicine, the COVID19 pandemic has set us back. Back in September 2020, almost one million women left the workforce.3 That was almost four times the number of men. What happened at that time? September is generally when school starts. For women, responsibility at home and disproportionate child rearing responsibilities cause women to leave the workforce. According to the study by the global nonprofit Catalyst, the main risk factors for women leaving the workforce were: being a mother, being a senior leader and being a Black woman.

Unfortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a mass exodus of women from the medical field as well. The proverbial pipeline is leaking now more than ever. The pandemic has set back women’s progress by 25 years in the U.S. workforce.4 And women in medicine were already behind. According to an article by Richter and colleagues in The New England Journal of Medicine, 5 over a 35-year period, women physicians in academic medical centers were less likely than men to be promoted to associate or full professor or appointed to department chair, with no apparent narrowing of the gap. I believe we must stop the loss. This was happening even before the pandemic. The massive departure of women from the medical workforce impacts patient care and re-

Isearch. Though the leaky pipeline may be beyond patching, we need to start somewhere. What can employers do? Health care systems, CEOs, business leaders and physician allies can find creative ways to be part of the solution. Women should be paid fairly and promoted, sponsored for specific career opportunities and supported when pursuing those. I believe women should be offered grants or other funds to support their work. We must ensure that women have appropriate time off to care for themselves and their loved ones. Also, consider childcare options for the workplace. As an individual physician or health care leader, I encourage you to nominate a woman for an award or invite her to be a speaker or co-author on a manuscript. You can also write a positive online review or send a positive note to her boss. We can all give her a reason to stay in health care. References 1. https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/press-releases/majority-us-medical-students-are-womennew-data-show 2. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issuebrief/key-characteristics-of-health-care-workers-andimplications-for-covid-19-vaccination/ 3. https://www.catalyst.org/research/covid-effect-gender-racial-equality/ 4. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/ women/reports/ 2020/10/30/492582/covid-19sent-womens-workforce-progress-backward/ 5. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1916935

Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD runs the Post-COVID Recovery Clinic at UT Health San Antonio. She is a member of the Bexar County Medical Society.