This module helps physicians and trainees understand leadership development in emergency medicine, with particular attention to the unique challenges women face, including systemic barriers, gender bias, and cultural expectations within medical environments. Participants will examine how these factors shape leadership opportunities and effectiveness, and explore evidence-based strategies to enhance leadership capability, accelerate career advancement, and support the next generation of women leaders in the field.
This module is designed to shift the understanding of leadership from a title-based role to a set of skills and behaviors that can be developed throughout one's career. Participants will engage with current literature and real-world examples to examine the traits that make women effective leaders, how gender bias and stereotypes contribute to the glass ceiling, and how mentorship, sponsorship, and allyship can support advancement. By the end of this module, participants will be able to identify key leadership competencies, recognize gender-related challenges, and implement practical strategies to enhance their own leadership development and support others.
Objectives
Examine the current state of gender representation in medical leadership and the evidence-based case for gender-diverse leadership, including the traits and behaviors that make women effective leaders and how diverse leadership strengthens teams, decision-making, and patient care.
Recognize how structural and cultural barriers, including institutional policies, unequal domestic responsibilities, gender bias, and stereotypes such as the double bind, shape perceptions of competence and limit women's advancement into leadership, and explore solutions to address them.
Apply practical, evidence-based individual and relational strategies including: mentorship, sponsorship, allyship, and negotiation, to advance your own leadership capability and support the advancement of other women in medicine.
The following resources serve as the core materials for this module, ranging from scoping reviews to practical management guides:
Objective 1: Leadership Effectiveness
Objective 2: Identifying and Overcoming Structural and Cultural Barriers
Objective 3: Strategies to Advance Women in Medicine and Leadership
Designed for RAFT meetings, subdivided by module objectives.
General Discussion Questions:
Do you consider yourself a leader where you are in medicine? Why or why not?
Women in leadership are often caught in the double bind, balancing confidence with the risk of being labeled as “bossy” or “too aggressive.” How have you seen or navigated this dilemma?
The stereotype of the typical leader has often been masculine. What qualities commonly associated with women leaders can be an advantage in medicine?
Objective-Specific Discussion Questions