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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · South Asian J Cancer 2023; 12(04): 311-313
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1756631
Editorial

Gender Parity in Healthcare: A Chronicle of Escalating Success Rate of Female Radiation Oncologists in India

Biplab Sarkar 
1   Department of Radiotherapy, Apollo Multispeciality Hospitals, Kolkata, India
2   Department of Physics, Ganesh Lal Agrawal University, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Anirudh Pradhan 
3   Centre for Cosmology, Astrophysics and Space Science, Ganesh Lal Agrawal University, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India
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Abstract

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Biplab Sarkar

Objectives This editorial describes the growth pattern of female radiation oncologists (FRO) in India and the prediction of gender equality through a mathematical formulation.

Materials and Methods Among the countries in South Asia, India has the largest population of radiation oncologists (RO), a total of 3,763: 1,286 female and 2,477 male radiation oncologists (MROs), and they are registered with the Association of Radiation Oncologists of India (AROI). The data were analyzed to find the differential and cumulative growth pattern of the FROs and MROs and predict gender equality in radiation oncology. The cumulative growth rate indicates the total number of FROs and MROs by end of every year. Differential growth rate indicates the differential increase in the number of FROs and MROs for a particular year. Annual cumulative and differential growth patterns were plotted as a function of the time, and an analytical functional form was fitted to predict the future growth pattern and achievement of gender equality.

Results AROI registration of FROs and MROs for 2013–2020 were as follows: FRO: MRO 2013-54: 102, 2014-99: 162, 2015-77: 148; 2016-86: 143, 2017-110: 110, 2018-116: 151, 2019-121: 152, 2020 (October)-129: 110. Differential growth pattern between 2013 and 2020 with the average incremental growth rate for FROs and MROs were 12.7 ± 14.8% and 2.1 ± 32.0%. Differential growth rate FRO fits in a power-law exponent 58.6 ×(Power0.3695), where MRO growth pattern showed a saturation [4.7ln(×) + 128.5] . Gender parity among Indian radiation oncologists is likely to be achieved by end of 2027.

Conclusions The present density of FRO in India 34.1% is high compared to developed countries such as the United States (≈26%). It is a big leap for the Indian radiation oncology society tending toward gender parity.

Keywords

gender parity - woman radiation oncologist - India

Data Availability Statement

Data available with corresponding author, can be provided on request.




Publication History

Article published online:
31 December 2022

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