A lot of the important learning that happens at ASN Kidney Week happens outside the “real” meeting. A great example of this was in the Women in Nephrology luncheon today, where author Reshma Jagsi came to talk about her work on disparities among women and men in academic medicine. Although the data is not specific to nephrology, it was nevertheless fascinating to see information on some of the systemic biases that all of us – men and women included – are prone to when we evaluate each other’s work. Dr. Jagsi has documented that women in academia are paid less, are less likely to move through the pipeline, and are less likely to take on leadership roles. Even more interesting are the differences in time commitments between men and women in academia, with women in general having more outside commitments to domestic work and to childcare then do men, even among couples in where both are full-time employed. The impact of these issues on women’s success in academic medicine is difficult to quantify but it is not hard to infer that in the ultra competitive world of academia that outside commitments are one reason why women may find it harder to move forward.

Post by Dr. Dena Rifkin, Feature Editor of AJKD’s In a Few Words.

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