More Mustachioed Men than Women in Medical Leadership

A new study reveals that the chances of men with mustaches to lead medical departments are more enhanced than those of women in the United States. The study published in the Christmas issue of BMJ revealed that only 13% of the head medical departments in medical schools were women. They were outnumbered by the 19% of men who sported mustaches. This revealed that there are more mustachioed men than women in medical leadership.

The study authors highlighted the disparity between genders and asked for the number of leading women to be increased. The apparently funny reason of choosing the study of mustachioed men hides an ugly truth. Nowadays the mustaches are rare and the women in power even rarer.

The researchers defined the mustache as the hair present above the upper lip. Men sporting beards and no mustaches weren’t included in the count. All types of mustaches were included though, from the horseshoe to the lampshade mustache.

The research included 1018 leaders of medical departments in the United States.The study revealed that 190 of the leaders had a mustache. The departments of anesthesiology, psychiatry and pathology were leaded by the men with the thickest mustaches.

Although better performance has been linked to women, women leaders made for more than 20% in just the following departments: family medicine, gynecology, pediatrics, obstetrics and emergency medicine. The count uncovered the shocking number of only 130 women.

By adopting new and harsher policies against sexual harassment and discrimination and by offering remunerated parental leave employers are trying to fill these big gaps. Although these were important steps, researchers say that they are not enough. They advise flexible working hours and the reduction of the gender inequality. The latter could easily be done by hiring and promoting more women.

Another study conducted this year revealed that women in high positions of big companies are outnumbered by men with the name John who occupy the same position.5,3% of CEOs were called John, 4,5% were called David and only 4,1& were women.

The number of women in the medicine department has increased a lot since 1960. While 21% of women are professors at medical schools, 50% of women are medical students.

The results of the eccentric study revealed that more mustachioed men than women are medical leaders, which demands immediate change.

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