Gender Gap: A Qualitative Study of Women and Leadership Acquisition in Anesthesiology.

Background: The representation of women among leaders in the field of anesthesia continues to trail that of their male counterparts. This qualitative study was conducted to understand the pathway of leadership acquisition among women in the field of anesthesiology.

Methods: Using constructivist grounded theory, we sought to determine whether there were specific internal or external factors that were common to women in leadership in the specialty field of anesthesiology, and specifically, how they obtained leadership positions.