Analysis of gender in radiology in Australia and its importance to the profession and workforce planning

Medical workforce diversity is important with gender constituting a significant role. Male and female medical practitioners participate in the workforce differently: understanding the cultural and social expectations, economic productivity, professional opportunities, and the effects on workforce supply, will aid workforce planning. Having a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community is important in providing patient-centred care. As more than half of medical graduates are female, it would be expected that this is reflected in radiology specialty. We analyse the Australian gender-specific data from the Royal Australian and New Zealand Clinical Radiology (RANZCR) clinical radiology workforce census from 1992 to 2020, focusing on changes in gender representation, number of hours worked per week, differences in subspecialisation and geographical distribution. This analysis found that the proportion of the female radiologists increased from 13% to 29%: still an underrepresentation of women radiologists when compared with the gender distribution of medical students and junior doctors. This will persist in the short to medium term, given the tapering of female doctors entering radiology training. In terms of workforce planning, women are more likely to work less than their male counterparts in the early to mid-career. Women are underrepresentated in interventional and neurointerventional radiology. There is more self-reported subspecialty interest in breast and women's imaging. A review of the literature demonstrated a similar situation in comparable countries. We also considered the reasons, potential solutions for this, and knowledge gaps where research is needed.