Maximizing the Potential of Women in Emergency Medicine

Reaffirmed February 2020

Originally approved October 2014

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) is committed to supporting women over the course of their emergency medicine careers and recommends that employers adopt policies and practices that will enable women to have productive and sustained careers. Such policies will enable our specialty to maintain a diverse and talented workforce, thereby strengthening the field as a whole. 

• Employers should implement policies and practices aimed at ensuring unbiased recruitment and hiring along with parity in advancement and compensation among employees. 
• Employers should promote and support networking and mentorship opportunities for their women physicians.
• Employers should strive to implement family-supportive practices* that further the professional advancement and retention of employees who have childcare and other dependent care responsibilities.
• Employers should seek to create a culture in which family-supportive policies are visible, easily accessible, and are used without fear of penalty or stigma. This culture should be evident at the time of recruitment.
• Employers should adopt policies to support physicians during significant life events (e.g., pregnancy, childbirth, adoption, major medical illness).
• The needs of pregnant and postpartum women should be supported with flexible scheduling options and adequate lactation facilities.
• ACEP believes that physicians should not have to choose between their careers and their families and that employers’ efforts to recognize and consider all aspects of physicians’ lives ultimately furthers a medical career.

* ACEP Policy Statement "Family Leave of Absence"