Among the 20 largest US medical specialties, radiology ranks 17th in the percentage of its members who are women . Some investigations have concluded that the lack of role models is the single greatest barrier to women who might otherwise consider careers in radiology . There is little doubt that a deficit of role models is at least an important factor.
To ensure that more female medical students consider radiology as a career, radiologists need to learn more about role modeling, including how to provide more visible female role models for medical students at earlier points in their training. By doing so, radiologists can help to ensure that a higher proportion of top students are giving radiology due consideration.
Role Models
Robert Merton, the Columbia University sociologist who died at age 92 in 2003, coined a number of terms that have become staples of conversation in higher education and the professions—among them “focus group” and “self-fulfilling prophecy.” Another of Merton’s novel terms has assumed a central role in our understanding of education: role model.
He first used the term “role model” in a study of medical students at Columbia, hypothesizing that individuals take on new responsibilities and identities by comparing themselves to another group of individuals to which they do not yet belong. Medical students model themselves after more senior physicians—residents, fellows, and attending physicians—whose roles they expect to assume.
What is taught in a classroom is important, but education is not just the learning of knowledge and skills. It is also learning to talk like, act like, and eventually to think like a more advanced member of a group that learners aspire to join. The emulation of role models plays a particularly important role in the education of professionals.
Instructors feed the intellect and motor skills, whereas role models feed the developing self-understanding. Learners who are otherwise well suited to a particular field may not even consider the possibility of pursuing it because they cannot imagine themselves there. Without someone they can emulate, they assume that such a career path is unavailable to them.
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Role Modeling
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Enhancing Role Modeling
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Conclusion
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References
1. Chapman C.H., Hwang W.T., Both S., et. al.: Current status of diversity by race, Hispanic ethnicity, and sex in diagnostic radiology. Radiology 2014; 270: pp. 232-240.
2. Roubidoux M.A., Packer M.M., Applegate K.E., et. al.: Female medical students’ interest in radiology careers. J Am Coll Radiol 2009; 6: pp. 246-253.