Table 1.
Theme 1: Spectrum of the Gender Climate (Key-Informant Interviews in the National Faculty Survey)
| Description of the theme | Quote | Rank | Years at institution | Gender | GWIMS, GDI, or ADD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little improvement | “At the most senior level, essentially an old boys' club mentality that really does color the culture… if they [women] are successful, they're not recognized and rewarded appropriately.” | Professor | 5 | F | GWIMS |
| “I think the place operates by the traditional old boys' network…it's easy to change when you bring it to people's attention, because it is really benign in intention—[but] not benign in impact.” | Professor | 21 | F | GWIMS | |
| “At the most senior level, essentially an old boys' club…. The large critical mass is still a bunch of white guys.” | Associate professor | 13 | F | GWIMS | |
| “Many women are really fed up…what is the point of asking us to fill out these surveys when it never makes a difference?” | Associate professor | 1 | F | GWIMS | |
| Improvement with subtle bias | “I really don't think that there's much in the way of overt discrimination anymore…it reflects unintended bias.” | Professor | 19 | F | GWIMS |
| “It's not that on a daily basis you feel bad about being here. It's just that there [are] no programs…directly geared towards making sure that women are successful.” | Associate professor | 14 | F | GWIMS | |
| “We have a large number of women in leadership positions, but that doesn't mean that we have achieved equity…as you get farther and farther along…it gets more and more difficult…you're dealing with subtler and subtler issues.” | Professor | 19+ | F | GWIMS | |
| Neutral: gender not an issue | “The climate for female faculty is the same as it is for other faculty.” | Professor | 6 | F | GWIMS |
| “Women's perceptions were no worse than men's overall.” | Professor | 5 | F | GWIMS | |
| “The climate is neutral.” | Professor | 22 | F | GWIMS | |
| “I don't think the dean currently supports the notion of really looking at these [gender] issues…he stated that he doesn't think that women's issues are a problem.” | Professor | 23 | F | GWIMS | |
| Some progress | “It will not get better without a very active intervention plan…but nobody wants to pay for it…that's what it is going to take.” | Professor | 13 | F | GWIMS |
| “I'd say it's better than most, but I think we have a long way to go.” | Professor | 29 | F | GWIMS | |
| Very positive climate | “We just have a culture and an environment where women are very frequently hired and brought in at senior positions.” | Professor | 19 | F | GWIMS |
| “We have a new dean…who is strongly committed to gender and race-ethnicity equity. He has sent that message loud and clear through the institution. He appoints associate and vice-deans…he's made a determined effort to include many women in those ranks.” | Professor | 9 | F | GWIMS | |
| Greater numbers of women will bring gender equity | “I would think the climate is good. It has been improving….That's because the number of women in academia has been progressively increasing…so you have sheer numbers out there…that can impact change.” | Professor | 39 | M | GDI |
| “More women are inexorably gaining more and more terrain…it is unavoidable that as time goes on more and more women will occupy higher ranks…it's just a matter of time.” | Professor | 30 | M | GDI | |
| Inconsistency at institutions across departments | “So the overall climate…I see it as relatively equitable. But I know that it's not…there's significant lack of mobility, that they [women] experience. We have three chairs that are women…all the other chairs are men.” | Associate professor | 10 | M | GDI |
| “It's one in which there is…inconsistent awareness [among departments] regarding the needs of women and the importance of bringing diversity to the table.” | Professor | 29 | F | GWIMS | |
| “If you happen to get a chairman who has no interest in promoting women, there really have been …no consequences for that.” | Professor | 13 | F | ADD | |
| “Mixed. I would say it's very mixed. It really depends on the department.” | Professor | 23 | F | GDI |
ADD, representative given additional interview; F, female; GDI, Group on Diversity and Inclusion; GWIMS, Group on Women in Medicine and Science; M, male.