The Bottom Line

I was sifting through articles on women's leadership development today and a paragraph that jumped out at me for its laser-focus on the issue that I think presents the biggest barrier for women's leadership advancement - institutional cultures and practices. The article appeared in a "Notes" publication by the American Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs (www.jpeds.com) and summarized the lessons learned by the Puget Sound Women’s Pediatric Society (PSWPS) in their efforts to foster and encourage leadership among women in pediatrics in the Puget Sound area and to support their professional and personal development. Here's the paragraph:

"Lesson 4: Opening Pathways for Women to Assume Leadership Will Require Profound Institutional, Cultural, and Societal Change: Two years ago, our steering committee felt that it was time to move from inspirational talks and skill-building workshops to initiate institutional change that would promote work/life balance in pediatric careers. Important issues, such as the impact of pregnancies during pediatric residency and the continuing lack of on-site quality child care, maternity, paternity, or elder care leave, and flexible work settings in both community and academic settings, among others, were focal points for our discussions. Similar issues were raised by a national task force addressing challenges to women pediatricians. Successful solutions to these barriers will benefit both men and women and will foster movement of women into positions of leadership."