Background The number of females in senior and leadership positions in Medical Education is disproportionate to the female intake at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. This has been a slowly recognised phenomenon and 170 years after the first female medical graduate, little remains changed in achieving gender equity at the senior level.

Objective To identify what factors specific to women prevents their career progression in Medical Education.

Method Email invitations were sent to female members of the Academy of Medical Education leading to seven semi-structured telephone interviews. Qualitative analysis of six interview transcripts were carried using Nvivo11.

Common themes from all informants were collated and studied.

Population/Participants The final cohort consisted of two deans of postgraduate medicine, one deputy dean of undergraduate medicine, one managing director, one clinical and one honorary lecturer.

Findings The most significant factors that negatively affect career progression include: 1)Design of the Institution infrastructure 2) Work-Life balance 3) Lack of role models and mentors 4) Networking opportunities. Other common themes were intrinsic gender bias against women due to ‘female’ personality traits, lack of self-confidence and not seeking professional recognition as commonly as men.

Conclusion Interviewees expressed the importance of a support system which enables adequate work life management. For all respondents expressed that having a supportive husband was key to their success, a theme which has not been previously identified in the literature. This calls for a change in both the work place and at home as a society we must realise that the domestic duties predominantly placed upon women, halts their progression along the career ladder. If changes are not made soon, the work force will be deprived of a very educated cohort.