A critical turning point for the female physician is highlighted in the study by Lorello et al1 as another one of the numerous inequities throughout the female physician’s career life cycle. Their study’s extensive assessment of residency applicants’ matching highlights disproportionate increases in numbers between Canadian female residency applicants and representation across specialties, with women having a greater likelihood of success in matching into family medicine and psychiatry and less likelihood in surgery.

Factors that are associated with equitable participation and success in academic medicine are multifactorial: individual and cultural.

Vassie et al2 have done a quality job of mapping out a thematic synthesis of factors that are associated with equitable participation and success in academic careers, and individual factors are far outnumbered by cultural factors; a notable and substantial one being medical students’ exposure to sex discrimination, influencing women’s pursuits more than men’s pursuits.

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