Can State Family Support Policies Level the Playing Field for Early-Career Women in Plastic Surgery? An Analysis of Web-Scraped Data.

[BACKGROUND] For the young plastic surgeon, the quantity of first-author peer-reviewed publications plays a prominent role in job offers and promotions. Women surgeons carry a disproportionate share of family responsibilities, contributing to their lower representation in positions of leader- ship and influence. Policies protecting reproductive rights and mandating paid family leave (PFL) boost women's participation and productivity in the workplace. However, these policies vary by U.S., state and territory.

[METHODS] Web-scraped publication data from all PubMed-indexed plastic surgery journals from 2010 to 2022 were evaluated by first-author gender and affiliated state reproductive rights policy and PFL. Female first authors were further compared with men by publication output (1 article; ≥ 2; ≥ 5) by gender and by affiliated state policies.

[RESULTS] Protective reproductive rights policies were associated with greater representation of female first authors (3.3 percentage points; p value = 0.003). Protective reproductive rights policies and PFL were associated with a decreased publication gender gap (0.13 articles, p value < 0.001, and 0.18 articles, p value < 0.001, respectively). Protective reproductive policies and PFL had an even greater correlation with higher publication output among female first authors.

[CONCLUSIONS] Protective reproductive rights and mandatory PFL are not only correlated with women's representation among early-career researchers but with a reduction in the publication gender gap. Legislation and policies aimed at supporting women's family responsibilities are associated with higher research productivity among women and likely play a significant role in attracting more women to higher academic ranks and improving gender equity in professional success in plastic surgery.

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