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(Anesth Analg. 2019;128(6):e109–e112) Because of the fact that recovery from childbirth is a crucial period in a woman’s life, experts in a number of medical communities have issued policy statements on parental leave and breastfeeding accommodations for physicians. However, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) has not put forth any guidelines on either parental leave or breastfeeding arrangements. Previous research has been conducted to study how female surgeons’ careers are affected by childbearing, but there are no studies that examine how parental leave and breastfeeding would influence an anesthesiologist’s professional career. The aim of this study was to record information on women working in anesthesiology to understand their impressions on pregnancy, childbirth, recovery from childbirth, and lactation in the context of their career.

While the literature regarding physicians’ childbearing experiences is growing, there are no studies documenting those of anesthesiologists. We surveyed a convenience sample of 72 female anesthesiologists to obtain pilot data. Sixty-six women completed the survey (91.7% response rate), reporting 113 total births from before 1990 to present. Of all birth experiences, proportions of respondents reporting parental leave, lactation facilities, and lactation duration as adequate were 52.3%, 45.2%, and 58.3%, respectively. Most mothers (51.8%) gave birth to their first child while they were trainees. The majority (94.9%) favored an official statement supporting parental leave. These results may serve as groundwork for larger studies.

The authors queried 9 anesthesiology societies to examine Distinguished Service Award recipients over time by gender. Of the 211 total Distinguished Service Awards given by all 9 societies, women received 25 (11.8%). Comparing pre-2008 data to the most recent decade, there was no statistical difference in the number of women Distinguished Service Award recipients with 8.9% and 17.1% women Distinguished Service Award recipients, respectively (P = .076). Societies varied greatly in their women awardees, from 40% to 0% in the last decade. Low levels of awardees stand in contrast to the increasing number of women in the academic pipeline. The authors recommend that societies collect gender membership data and study their award processes from nomination to selection.

ObjectiveTo determine whether women have been equitably represented among plenary speakers at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual meeting by counting and categorizing speakers and comparing outcomes to AAN membership and US neurology workforce data.MethodsLists of plenary speakers between 1958 and 2019 (62 years) were obtained from the AAN. The primary outcome measures were numbers and proportions of men and women in aggregate and among physicians.ResultsWe identified 635 plenary speakers, including 148 (23.3%) women. Specifically, women comprised 14.6% (19 of 130) of presidential and 25.5% (129 of 505) of nonpresidential plenary session speakers. The inclusion of women plenary speakers was meaningfully higher (h, 0.33; difference, 14.9%; 95% CI, 4.2%–26.7%) for nonphysicians (27 of 74 [36.5%]) than physicians (121 of 561 [21.6%]). Although at zero levels for annual meetings held between 1958 and 1990 and at mostly low but varying levels thereafter, the representation of women and women physicians has been at or above their proportions in the AAN membership and US neurology workforce since 2017. Comparison of representation by plenary session name revealed an unequal distribution of women, with women physicians concentrated in the Sidney Carter Award in Child Neurology presidential session.ConclusionHistorically and recently, women and women physicians were underrepresented among AAN plenary speakers. As the AAN has taken active steps to address equity, women have been included in more representative proportions overall. However, notable gaps remain, especially in specific prestigious plenary sessions, and further research is needed to determine causality.