More than a decade with ‘gender on the agenda’: have we made progress?

TY - JOUR

T1 - More than a decade with ‘gender on the agenda’

T2 - have we made progress?

AU - Colvin, Lesley

AU - Kemp, Harriet

N1 - Copyright: © 2026 British Journal of Anaesthesia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.

PY - 2026/3/23

Y1 - 2026/3/23

N2 - As female clinical academics and members of the British Journal of Anaesthesia (BJA), we recognise the importance of gender equity, which remains an issue in academic medicine, despite the increase in the proportion of women in medical schools throughout the world. This inequity is most apparent at senior leadership levels, with the number of female professors in anaesthesia remaining in single digits in the UK, and at about 25% of full professors in the USA. A strong publication record is an important promotion metric in academia. In a 2013 analysis, only 39% of first and senior authors published in the BJA were women, whereas in our recent analysis, this proportion improved to 54%. The benefits of having increased representation of women as leaders are unequivocal, requiring active strategies to accelerate any progress that has been made. Initiatives such as the current BJA Special Issue on Women in Anaesthesia Research are key elements in this process.

AB - As female clinical academics and members of the British Journal of Anaesthesia (BJA), we recognise the importance of gender equity, which remains an issue in academic medicine, despite the increase in the proportion of women in medical schools throughout the world. This inequity is most apparent at senior leadership levels, with the number of female professors in anaesthesia remaining in single digits in the UK, and at about 25% of full professors in the USA. A strong publication record is an important promotion metric in academia. In a 2013 analysis, only 39% of first and senior authors published in the BJA were women, whereas in our recent analysis, this proportion improved to 54%. The benefits of having increased representation of women as leaders are unequivocal, requiring active strategies to accelerate any progress that has been made. Initiatives such as the current BJA Special Issue on Women in Anaesthesia Research are key elements in this process.

KW - academic anaesthesia

KW - gender disparity

KW - gender equality

KW - women in medicine

KW - diversity

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105034066419

U2 - 10.1016/j.bja.2026.01.020

DO - 10.1016/j.bja.2026.01.020

M3 - Editorial

C2 - 41723058

SN - 0007-0912

VL - 136

SP - 1131

EP - 1136

JO - British Journal of Anaesthesia

JF - British Journal of Anaesthesia

IS - 4

ER -