Women anesthesiologists’ journeys to academic leadership: a constructivist grounded theory-inspired study

Background Women continue to be underrepresented in academic anesthesiology, especially in leadership positions. Possible reasons for this gender disparity include family responsibilities, inadequate mentorship, lack of desire for leadership, the leaky pipeline effect (i.e., attrition of women physicians over the course of their career trajectories), and discrimination. Our objective was to understand the lived experiences of Canadian anesthesiologists in leadership positions. Methods In this constructivist grounded theory-inspired study, we used purposeful sampling to identify women anesthesiologists in leadership positions at one Canadian institution. Each participant underwent a one-on-one semi-structured interview of 40-60 min in length, sampling until theoretical saturation was reached. We included questions about the participant’s practice setting, influences on their career, and advice the participant would provide to other women in leadership. We used an iterative approach to theoretical sampling and data analysis. The audio-recorded semi-structured interviews were transcribed and coded. NVivo12 was used for open and axial coding, and cross-referencing. Results Eight women anesthesiologists were recruited and interviewed. Our iterative process identified four interconnected themes: difficulty internalizing a leadership identity, identifying systemic barriers and biases, dissonance between agentic traits and communal social gender roles, and mentorship as shaping lived experiences. Participants consistently expressed experiencing discrimination, articulated barriers related to family responsibilities and ingrained societal expectations, and discussed how typical leadership traits are applied differently to women and men. Women perceived themselves as more compassionate and communicative than men. Despite these traits, these women have expressed barriers to obtaining mentorship. Conclusion We identified consistent interconnected themes among the experiences of our sample of women anesthesiologists in academic leadership and found that academic anesthesiology is a gendered profession as experienced by these women leaders. Further research should focus on strategies to remove barriers to participation in academic anesthesiology for women.