Gender Equity and Diversity in Medicine
Our position
Advancing gender equity in medicine and promoting a culturally safe, inclusive, and diverse College are key priorities outlined in the 2022–2026 RACP Strategic Plan (PDF). Our vision is to continue embracing diversity and equity while striving to ensure inclusion for everyone.
Action plans
We’ve developed 2 action plans to meet the diverse needs of our members. These plans focus on the following factors like age, gender, ethnicity, culture, religion, sexual orientation, disability, caregiving roles, and how these identities intersect.
To support these efforts, we formed the Gender Equity and Diversity Advisory Committee. The Committee guides our work, tracks progress and suggest ways to advance gender equity and create a culturally safe, inclusive and diverse College.
Turning plans into progress
We’ve introduced meaningful changes to improve flexibility and support gender equity for our members.
Flexible training options
The RACP Flexible Training Policy was introduced in 2012 and updated in 2023 to provide more flexibility. This supports gender equity and helps trainees from diverse backgrounds.
- you can now take more than 24 months of parental leave without it affecting training time limits
- certified medical leave won’t count toward the total time allowed to finish training
- you can now train part-time at 0.2FTE instead of 0.4FTE
- we've introduced return-to-training plans to support smooth transitions back
For more information, visit Flexible Training Options.
Achieving gender parity among speakers at College events
Representation is important to us and gender balance among the speakers at our events is a key priority. During 2024 and early 2025, we have recorded the following:
- the overall representation of speakers at College events is 47% men and 49% women
- at our 2024 Congress, we featured 57 speakers — 30 women and 27 men
Gender representation in College bodies
We’re committed to gender equity and have achieved gender parity across all College bodies, including committees, working groups and advisory groups.
Tracking gender representation in medicine
History of gender balance and diversity in medicine and RACP membership
The Gender Equity in Medicine Working Group (GEMWG) was established in 2020 to define gender equity, understand its impact on our members' experiences, and provide recommendations to improve gender equity in medicine.
In November 2021, the Gender Equity in Medicine Working Group Report (PDF) was released. As a result, the Gender Equity in Medicine Committee (GEMC) was formed to review the report’s recommendations and create a multi-year Gender Equity in Medicine Action Plan | 2023–2026 (PDF).
At the same time, we established the Membership Diversity Advisory Group (MDAG) to define diversity and develop a multi-year Membership Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan | 2023–2026 (PDF).