"Levelling up" the gender pay gap for Asian women academics in medicine and health sciences.

Abstract

The gender pay gap for academic women of Asian ethnicity at Aotearoa New Zealand's largest university is 33.5%. The aim of this viewpoint is to raise consciousness, educate and contribute to dialogue on concerns relating to Asian women advancing in academia, particularly in medicine and health sciences. We invite collective participation in efforts at departmental, faculty and institutional levels to better identify and dismantle discrimination and increase the representation of Asian women in academic medicine. We endorse concepts of accountability, transparency and strengthening institutional frameworks to "level up" intersectional pay gaps by recommending three actions: 1) ensuring accountability by mandatory training, monitoring and reporting on gender pay equity, diversity and conscious inclusion, 2) creating transparency in salary, pay rates, hiring, tenure and promotions, and 3) convening a task force at each faculty with specific mentorship and leadership initiatives for women of colour. We emphasise that "levelling up" requires a collective will to act. We ask our colleagues and the academy to scrutinise attitudes and biases towards ethnic minority women in hiring, tenure and promotion processes. We advocate for enacting policy so those who experience inequity can see change. When rendered, it will be a legacy to the next generation of ethnic minority women entering the academy, and potentially other marginalised groups as well.