House of Delegates
The House of Delegates will operationalize their goal of greater gender equity by aiming for parity in women physician delegates within three years. (D)
The MMS will update and distribute educational materials to members regarding the role of the House of Delegates in policy making, with explicit inclusion of benefits associated with gender equity in the creation of strong policy. (D)
The MMS will create an internal campaign using existing MMS web/print channels and emails to recruit women physicians for delegate and other medical society leadership positions. (D)
The MMS will educate district leadership on specific strategies to recruit delegates to better reflect the current gender composition of physicians. (D)
Leadership Development/Ambassador Program
The Massachusetts Medical Society will promote representation in its leadership and committees that reflects the Society’s membership diversity, demographics, and gender. (D)
Gender Parity/Women in Medicine
(Please See Additional Policies under MMS Administration and Management)
The Massachusetts Medical Society will actively promote its current resources for physician mental well-being while developing new resources specific to women in medicine. (D)
The MMS will distribute a no cost survey via email to MMS members to identify specific drivers of stress across demographic groups and to develop supportive infrastructures. (D)
The MMS will promote existing resources about gender equity in medicine by creating a webpage, and distributing the email link to the page. (D)
The Massachusetts Medical Society will advocate for national, institutional, and academic policies that mitigate gender disparities in pay and academic advancement, especially during a pandemic such as COVID-19. (D) MMS House of Delegates, 5/8/21
The MMS will draft and disseminate a report detailing its positions and recommendations for gender equity in medicine, including clarifying principles for state and specialty societies, academic medical centers, and other entities that employ physicians,
to be submitted to the House for consideration at the 2019 Annual Meeting. (D)
The MMS will: (a) Promote institutional, departmental, and practice policies, consistent with federal and Massachusetts law, that offer transparent criteria for initial and subsequent physician compensation; (b) Continue to advocate for pay structures
based on objective, gender-neutral criteria; (c) Promote existing Attorney General guidance related to the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act, which offers a framework for to identifying gender pay disparities and guidance regarding appropriate compensation
models and metrics for all Massachusetts employees; and (d) Advocate for training to identify and mitigate implicit bias in compensation decision making for those in positions to determine salary and bonuses, with a focus on how subtle differences
in the further evaluation of physicians of different genders may impede compensation and career advancement. (D)
The MMS will recommend as immediate actions to reduce gender bias to: (a) Inform physicians about their rights under the: (i) Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which restores protection against pay discrimination; and the (ii) Equal Pay Act, requiring, among
other things, equal pay for comparable work, nonprohibition of voluntary wage disclosure to others, prohibitions on asking about salary history, and prohibitions on retaliating against employees who exercise their rights under the Act; and (iii) disseminate
educational materials informing physicians about their rights under the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act; (b) Promote educational programs to help empower physicians of all genders to negotiate equitable compensation; and (c) Work with relevant stakeholders
to develop and host a workshop on the role of medical societies in advancing women in medicine, with co-development and broad dissemination of a report based on workshop findings. (D)
The MMS will collect and analyze comprehensive demographic data and produce a study on gender equity, including, but not limited to, membership; representation in the House of Delegates; reference committee makeup; and leadership positions within our
MMS, including the Board of Trustees, Councils and Section governance, plenary speaker invitations (including, but not limited to, the Annual Meeting Education Program, the Annual Oration, and the Public Health Leadership Forum), recognition awards,
and grant funding (including, but not limited to, grants from the MMS and Alliance Charitable Foundation); and disseminate such findings in regular reports to the House of Delegates, beginning at A-19 and continuing yearly thereafter, with recommendations
to support ongoing gender equity efforts. (D)
The MMS will commit to the principles of pay equity across the organization and take steps aligned with this commitment. (D) MMS House of Delegates, 12/1/18
The Massachusetts Medical Society endorses the American Medical Association’s policy, “Gender Disparities in Physician Income and Advancement” that reads as follows: Gender Disparities in Physician Income and Advancement 1. That our American Medical Association
encourage medical associations and other relevant organizations to study gender differences in income and advancement trends, by specialty, experience, work hours and other practice characteristics, and develop programs to address disparities where
they exist; 2. That our AMA support physicians in making informed decisions on work-life balance issues through the continued development of informational resources on issues such as part-time work options, job sharing, flexible scheduling, reentry,
and contract negotiations; 110 3. That our AMA urge medical schools, hospitals, group practices and other physician employers to institute and monitor transparency in pay levels in order to identify and eliminate gender bias and promote gender equity
throughout the profession; 4. That our AMA collect and publicize information on best practices in academic medicine and non academic medicine that foster gender parity in the profession; and 5. That our AMA provide training on leadership development,
contract and salary negotiations and career advancement strategies, to combat gender disparities as a member benefit. (HP)
The MMS will advocate and raise awareness for gender parity, equal pay, and advancement as a fundamental professional standard to ensure equal opportunity within the medical profession in Massachusetts. (D) MMS House of Delegates, 5/21/11 Reaffirmed MMS
House of Delegates, 4/28/18
View a PDF version of these policies here.
