Family Planning and Parental Leave in Obstetrics and Gynecology Fellowships: A Nation‐Wide Survey of Fellows and Program Directors in the United States

Aims The United States is the only developed nation without a mandated paid parental leave. As of 2022, the Accreditation Council for General Medical Education has mandated a minimum 6‐week parental leave during medical training in US training programs. Our objective was to evaluate current parental leave policies and attitudes toward leave across OBGYN subspecialties, identify barriers to fellows taking leave, and evaluate the level of support for lactation. Methods We distributed an anonymous electronic questionnaire to fellows and program directors (PDs) across OBGYN fellowships in five subspecialties (complex family planning, female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery, gynecologic oncology, maternal‐fetal medicine, and reproductive endocrinology and infertility) in the United States at the end of the 2023–2024 academic year. Results A total of 148 fellows and 76 PDs participated in the survey. Typical program parental leave reported by all participants was 6 weeks. Most (69.9%) fellows felt this typical leave to be too short, compared to half (45.7%) of PDs ( p = 0.001). Only 4 (3.0%) fellows believed there are no barriers to trainees taking leave in fellowship, compared to 14 (20.0%) PDs ( p < 0.001). Most commonly cited barriers to taking leave were culture in medicine, limited number of co‐fellows, and need to extend training. Across the entire cohort, 74.3% fellows reported that being in training influenced their decision of when to have children, compared to 42.5% PDs ( p < 0.0001). Fewer fellows compared to PDs were satisfied with their program's parental leave policy (46.6% vs. 68.5%, p = 0.03), and 51.2% fellows were neutral toward or dissatisfied with institutional support for lactation. Conclusions OBGYN fellows face barriers to being able to take leave in fellowship, are dissatisfied with parental leave length, and do not have enough lactation support.