Trends in the Proportion of Female Speakers at Medical Conferences in the United States and in Canada, 2007 to 2017

Panel composition and disparities in the topics of presentation in vascular surgery conferences

BACKGROUND

Previous studies identified gender disparities in surgical conference presenters and moderators. We sought to assess disparities in the representation of women in terms of speakers and moderators, but with particular emphasis on panels and topics of discussion at vascular surgery conferences.

METHODS

Data regarding presenters and moderators from the Southern Association of Vascular Surgery, Western Vascular Society, Vascular and Endovascular Surgical Society, Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery, and Society for Vascular Surgery conferences was obtained from online meeting archives and via email correspondence. Scientific session speakers, moderators, and panelists were identified by sex. Specific vascular topics for each discussion were also identified. Keynote speakers or special guests were excluded.

RESULTS

Compared to men, women were less often presenters (18% versus 82%, p < .002) and moderators (16% versus 84%, p < .001) of conference sessions. Women were most likely to present on dialysis access and least likely to present on venous disease overall. Women were more likely to present on aortic (24% vs 19%; p < .013) and cerebrovascular disease (33% vs 27%; p < .021) at regional compared to national conferences. Of panels assessed, 68% were all-male. Subgroup analysis suggests that some improvements have been made over time.

CONCLUSIONS

Significant disparities persist in the topics presented and in panel composition suggesting potential areas for improvement in equity. Further study should focus on evaluating trends in the training level of the presenter and the topics presented, and assessing parity in structural factors that impact research presentation opportunities.

Gender trends at the annual Spanish Urologic Association (AEU) meeting: A review of AEU programmes over a 10-year period (2012-2022)

INTRODUCTION

Gender equity in urological meetings is pivotal for fostering diversity and inclusivity in the field. This study aims to evaluate the representation of Spanish urologist and regional disparities, and to assess its alignment with the demographic composition of the urological community.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

All urology meetings organized by the AEU between January 2012 and December 2022 were reviewed, including meeting information and details of the faculty. Additionally, we analysed geographic distribution of speakers across 17 different regions. Gender demographics were obtained disaggregating data by sex and year from the Organización Médica Colegial de España (OMC) and from those urologists affiliated to the AEU.

RESULTS

Analysing 52 AEU congresses held from 2012 to 2022, encompassing 3,407 speakers, the study found that 95.25% of speakers were from Spain and 89.6% were male speakers. Over the years, there was a positive trend in female speaker representation, increasing by 1.1% annually, slightly lagging the 1.8% annual rise in the number of female urologists in Spain. In specific subfields like functional, transplantation, and oncology sessions, the study revealed a higher representation of women, indicating focused efforts in these areas. Geographically, Madrid, Catalonia and Andalusia exhibited the highest representation.

CONCLUSIONS

Although there was a positive trend towards an increased participation of female urologists in Spanish urological meetings, it fails to accurately reflect the proportional increase in the number of women entering the urology profession in recent years. This study underscores the importance of ongoing efforts to ensure diverse and balanced representation in urological forum.

Demographic Trends at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Cornea Subspecialty Day

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to identify trends in female representation and years since training completion among speakers and moderators at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Annual Cornea Subspecialty Day between 2007 and 2022.

METHODS

Speakers and moderators at each AAO Cornea Subspecialty Day from 2007 to 2022 were sorted by sex and year of training completion. Sex and time from training completion were identified based on the individual's institutional profile or publicly available databases.

RESULTS

Five hundred eighty-three speakers and 48 moderators were identified from the AAO Cornea Subspecialty Day meeting archives over 15 years. Overall, women represented 199 (34.1%) speakers and 19 (39.6%) moderators. The proportion of female speakers increased from 10.0% in 2007 to 54.8% in 2022 (P < 0.001). The ratio of female moderators increased from 4 of 21 (19.0%) in 2007 to 2014 to 15 of 27 (55.6%) in 2015 to 2022 (P = 0.017). In years where there were less than 50% female moderators, women represented 26.3% of speakers versus 44.4% of speakers in years with greater than 50% female moderators (P = 0.014). Female speakers were overall earlier in practice than male speakers, with fewer average years since training completion (16.4 ± 1.8 vs. 22.3 ± 2.1 years; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Female representation among speakers and moderators at AAO's Cornea Subspecialty Day increased between 2007 and 2022. Sessions with a majority of female moderators were associated with a higher number of female speakers. Female speakers were generally earlier in their career than male speakers. These trends highlight the overall increases in female representation in academic ophthalmology.

Demographic representation among speakers at the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) spring conferences

BACKGROUND

The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) is a leading medical society for infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship. This descriptive study evaluated speaker demographics at the annual SHEA Spring conferences from 2019 to 2022.

METHODS

This was a retrospective, descriptive analysis of the demographic composition of speakers at the annual SHEA Spring conferences between 2019 and 2022, excluding the cancelled 2020 conference. Self-reported demographics were available for gender, race, ethnicity, age, primary practice setting, and professional degrees in speaker and membership categories.

RESULTS

In total, 447 speaker slots were filled by 305 unique speakers over 3 years. Average annual membership included 55.2% female, 44.8% male, 69.3% White, 21.4% Asian, 6.0% Hispanic/Latino, 2.9% Black, and 0.4% American Indian/Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AIAN/NHPI); 48.9% did not report a race or ethnicity. Speakers during the same period were 63.5% female, 36.5% male, 68.2% White, 13.3% Asian, 3.8% Black, 3.4% Hispanic/Latino, 0.8% AIAN/NHPI; 13.4% did not report race or ethnicity. In 2021, pharmacists represented 11.6% of speakers (and 2.9% of members) and members with nondoctoral degrees represented 11.6% of speakers (and 21.5% of members) (P < .0001). In each year, we detected underrepresentation of community and private-practice speakers relative to membership (eg, in 2022, 4.3% of speakers vs 15.7% of members; P < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

The SHEA Spring conferences demonstrated an increase in pharmacist speakers over time, but speakers from community hospitals and with nondoctoral degrees remain underrepresented relative to membership. Racial and ethnic minoritized individuals remain underrepresented as members and speakers. Intentional interventions are needed to consistently achieve equitable speaker representation across multiple demographic groups.

Gender representation in the Central Surgical Association: A call to action

BACKGROUND

Organizations such as the Central Surgical Association are important for promulgating advances in general surgery, but diversity and inclusion profoundly affect what is presented and discussed. The objective of this study was to evaluate gender representation trends at the Central Surgical Association and its annual meetings over the past 13 years.

METHODS

Publicly available Central Surgical Association meeting proceedings from 2010 to 2022 were reviewed for society leaders, new members, invited speakers and moderators, and contributors to scientific sessions (first authors, senior authors). Gender identity was assessed through professional online platforms. The 2017 and 2021 meetings were conjoined with the Midwest Surgical Association. Incomplete data were obtained from 2013 and 2020-2022.

RESULTS

A total of 2,158 individuals were reviewed, 554 (25.7%) of which were women. The overall trend of the absolute proportion of women participation increased by 1.8% per year (R2 = 0.7, P < .01). For leadership roles, 42/205 (20%) were women, with a 2.4% per year increase (R2 = 0.45, P = .02). For speaker roles, 82/384 (21.4%) were women, with a 2.2% increase per year (R2 = 0.6, P < .01). For scientific contributions, 253 first (35.9%) and 136 (19.3%) senior authors of 704 were women, with 1.5% (R2 = 0.4, P = .02) and 1.3% (R2 = 0.4, P = .03) increase per year, respectively.

CONCLUSION

There has been a positive trend in women's involvement at Central Surgical Association meetings for leaders, speakers, and scientific authors. Diversity allows variate experiences to contribute to surgical advancements; thus, measures by the Central Surgical Association to ensure adequate representation should continue.

Gender representation among speaking and leader roles at European cardio-thoracic surgical annual meetings

OBJECTIVES

Our goal was to evaluate gender representation among session leaders and abstract presenters at European cardio-thoracic surgical annual meetings.

METHODS

We did a descriptive study of the gender distribution among session leaders and abstract presenters at 2 European cardio-thoracic international meetings from 2017 to 2022. Data from publicly available programmes were used to generate a list of session leaders and abstract presenters. The primary outcome was to evaluate the proportion of female sessions leaders at the annual meetings. Descriptive analyses were performed including the Cochran-Armitage trend test for linear trend of proportions.

RESULTS

A total of 1025 sessions of 11 annual meetings of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) and the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons were examined. A total of 397 (13.2%) out of 3007 total session leaders and 955 (15.2%) out of 6251 abstract presenters were female. From 2017 to 2022, the proportions of both female session leaders and abstract presenters trended significantly [10.4% to 21.9% (P < 0.001) and 13.7% to 18.3% (P < 0.001), respectively]. The EACTS female members and female meeting attendees significantly increased from 2017 to 2022 [11.1% to 15.9% (P < 0.001) and 23.7% to 26.9% (P < 0.001)], respectively. Most of the women attendees at the EACTS and the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons meetings who were session leaders and speakers came from Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.

CONCLUSIONS

Women are under-represented compared to men in leadership and speaking roles at European cardio-thoracic surgical annual meetings. In the past few years, an encouraging positive trend over time for female leadership roles has been noted; as a result, the proportion of female society members is represented at the annual meetings. However, a substantial gender gap still exists in leading roles of meeting attendees.

A Decade of Global Skull Base Researchers: Gender Data from over 2,700 Abstract Authors in the Journal of Neurological Surgery Part B: Skull Base

Objective  The North American Skull Base Society (NASBS) annual conference brings together skull base researchers from surgical and nonsurgical fields. Our objective was to quantify the contributions of the authors by gender, who presented their work at NASBS and were subsequently published in the Journal of Neurological Surgery Part B: Skull Base . Methods  Oral and poster abstracts presented at the NASBS annual meeting from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2020 were extracted from the Journal of Neurological Surgery Part B: Skull Base. The genderize.io Web application programming interface was utilized to determine authorship gender. A minority of first and last authors had departmental affiliations listed; a subgroup analysis was performed of these authors. Results  Female gender was assigned to 498 (17.8%) of the 2,798 first authors and 269 (9.7%) of the 2,762 last authors. Female authorship has consistently increased over the last decade. Representation was higher in otolaryngology (23.3% of first authors, 12.1% of last authors; p  = 0.018) than neurosurgery (13.5% of first authors, 4.3% of last authors; p  = 0.004). Female researchers were not less likely than their male counterparts to receive prestigious oral presentations. Of the 52 total countries represented, 20 (38.5%) had at least one female first author. Representation varied dramatically between countries. Conclusion  The NASBS' efforts have undoubtedly contributed to these impressive strides toward gender parity. More work is needed to ensure that the best and the brightest, regardless of background, continue to contribute to skull base surgery research.

Gender disparity of invited speakers at the American Association of Orthodontists Annual Session: A cross-sectional analysis 2015-2023

INTRODUCTION

The American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) Annual Session aims to educate members using expert speakers in the field. Selection to speak is an honor and can help further an orthodontist's career and credibility. A European study found a significant gender discrepancy in selected speakers at their orthodontic meeting. This has not been investigated in the United States.

METHODS

Speaker names from the 2015-2023 AAO Annual Sessions were obtained and analyzed for gender and then compared with active membership and orthodontic faculty percentages. In addition, the gender of each General Chair and Doctors' Program Chair was analyzed and then compared with the female speaker and membership percentages. Because AAO research award winners are selected blindly, show expertise in the field, and are provided an opportunity to speak at the Annual Session, their gender was also confirmed and compared with membership percentage and female speaker percentage. Two-way chi-square tests were used, and P values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Mann-Kendall trend tests analyzed any potential changes in gender representation among AAO active memberships and AAO Annual Session speakers.

RESULTS

Female doctors were underrepresented as speakers (P values ranged from <0.001 to <0.05) in every year studied except 2020 compared with active membership and female faculty percentages. Female doctors were also significantly underrepresented as Annual Session General Chairs and Doctors' Program Chairs (P <0.01). The difference in female doctor representation among research awards winners (63%) compared with the Annual Session speakers (19%) was highly significant. Female representation in AAO active membership shows a significant increase from 2015 to 2023. The ratio of female-to-male speakers appears to be increasing but did not reach statistical significance.

CONCLUSIONS

Female doctors are underrepresented as selected speakers at the AAO Annual Session but comprise the majority of research award recipients. Efforts to provide opportunities for women to showcase their knowledge should be implemented.

Speaker Diversity and Audience Ratings at a National Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Conference

BACKGROUND

There is a need to improve speaker diversity at gastroenterology conferences, but little public data exist to quantify this. In addition, the perception of diverse speakers by conference audiences is not appreciated. We sought to identify time trends in speaker profiles and audience ratings at a national inflammatory bowel diseases conference.

METHODS

Faculty profiles and audience feedback forms from 2014 to 2020 were reviewed for an annual inflammatory bowel diseases meeting. Speaker demographics including gender, race, and years of experience post-training were collected. Continuing medical education surveys were examined for audience ratings of speakers' knowledge level and teaching ability.

RESULTS

Six years of data were collected, including 560 main program faculty and 13 905 total feedback forms. The percentage of female speakers increased from 25% in 2016 to 39% in 2020. All-male panels decreased from 47% in 2014 to 2017 to 11% in 2018 to 2020. Racial diversity of speakers remained unchanged (13% Asian, 5% Hispanic/Latinx, 1% Black). In audience feedback forms, female speakers from all sessions were perceived as having equal knowledge base and teaching ability compared with male speakers. However, speakers with <10 years of experience post-training were viewed as less knowledgeable and with poorer teaching abilities compared with more senior faculty.

CONCLUSIONS

Gender diversity at inflammatory bowel disease conferences is improving. However, there remain significant gaps, particularly in racial diversity and improving perceptions of early-career speakers. These data should inform program committees for future gastroenterology conferences.

Representation of women in musculoskeletal radiology conferences in Europe and North and South Americas: an estimation and comparative analysis

OBJECTIVE

To assess gender distribution and disparities in the musculoskeletal field at radiology conferences and to identify factors associated with the imbalance of women speakers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This cross-sectional study evaluated publicly available data online from musculoskeletal radiology conference programs from radiological societies across Europe, North America (NA), and South America (SA) from 2016 to 2020. The gender of invited speakers, moderators, and planning committee members and the occurrence of single-gender panels for musculoskeletal and plenary sessions were assessed.

RESULTS

A total of 531 sessions, 2580 speakers, 603 moderators, and 231 planning committee members were assessed. Women accounted for 26.6% of total speakers (p<0.001), 33.3% of moderators (p<0.001), and 31.2% of planning committee members (p=0.381). All-male panels were 26.7%, with 21.1% of women moderating these panels (p<0.001). The proportion of women speakers in musculoskeletal and plenary sessions was 29.7% and 34.6% in NA (p=0.035, p=0.052), 26.6% and 25.0% in Europe (p<0.001, p=0.199), and 12.9% and 13.6% in SA (p<0.001). The proportion of women moderators was 35.0% in NA (p=0.002), 37.1% in Europe (p=0.914), and 13.8% in SA (p<0.001). A linear relationship was observed in the proportion of women speakers, moderators, and members of the planning committee (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

We evaluated the participation of women speakers in musculoskeletal radiology conference programs, with significant differences in Europe and South America in all years evaluated, and the participation of women moderators with significant differences in South America and in all-male panels in all regions. Acknowledging gender biases and increasing the number of women on planning committees may help address gender imbalance and promote gender equity.

Trends in the proportion of women speakers at North American Allergy and Immunology conferences, 2008 to 2020

BACKGROUND

Women in medicine continue to be underrepresented at medical conferences. Previous studies have evaluated the proportion of invited female speakers across multiple specialties and evaluated factors that may have led to this disparity. The field of Allergy and Immunology has often been excluded and analyses have not illustrated how the trends have changed over the past decade.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the distribution of invited speakers by gender over time at the 3 largest North American Allergy and Immunology conferences.

METHODS

This retrospective longitudinal analysis used conference programs from 2008 to 2020 from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI), the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI), and the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (CSACI). The gender (binary definition, man or woman, based on names, photos, pronouns, from conference programs and institutional profiles) of invited speakers was analyzed as the primary outcome, and planning committee members, and multispeaker sessions as secondary outcomes. These data were compared with publicly available data on the composition of the specialty by gender in the United States and Canada.

RESULTS

Women speakers at AAAAI, ACAAI, and CSACI conferences have historically been lower than male speakers and underrepresented compared with specialty composition. However, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of women speakers over time for all 3 conferences individually (AAAAI: 23.7% in 2008, 41.1% by 2020; ACAAI: 16.7% in 2008, 37.3% by 2020; CSACI: 19.4% in 2008, 54.8% by 2020; P < .001 for each) and combined (21.3% in 2008, 40.7% by 2020, P < .001). This trend coincides with a significant increase in women on the planning committee (all conferences: 20% in 2008, 50.6% by 2020; P < .001). There is also a decreasing trend over time for men-only multispeaker sessions.

CONCLUSION

This study sheds light on the trends of women speaker representation at Allergy and Immunology conferences and provides clarity on future needs to reach equal representation in this field.

Spotlighting the imbalance: Gender disparities among speakers and awardees at pediatric emergency medicine conferences

BACKGROUND

There are wide variations in the gender makeup of speakers at national pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) conferences with no significant change in recent years.

OBJECTIVE

Gender disparities exist among national speakers and award recipients. PEM represents the intersection of pediatrics, a female-dominated specialty with approximately 58% women, and emergency medicine, a male-dominated specialty. We describe the proportion of women speakers and award recipients at two national PEM conferences, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Emergency Medicine (SOEM) and the Advanced PEM Assembly (APEMA), to the AAP National Conference & Exhibition (NCE), a national pediatric conference.

METHODS

Data from SOEM and APEMA, obtained from 2016 to 2021 were compared to the 2021 NCE. Invited speakers, abstract presenters, and award recipients were identified. Gender was determined by searching each individual's name for self-identification. Gender proportions were compared across conferences, speaker type, and year.

RESULTS

Compared to the NCE, a significantly smaller proportion of women were invited speakers at APEMA (NCE 59.9% vs. APEMA 38.8%, p < 0.001), but similar proportions of women were invited speakers (53.9%, p = 0.178) and awardees at SOEM (50% vs. 50%, p = 1.0). A larger number of women were SOEM abstract presenters than invited speakers (63.3% vs. 53.9%, p = 0.041). Between 2016 and 2021, the proportion of women invited speakers (SOEM, p = 0.744; APEMA, p = 0.947) or abstract presenters (SOEM, p = 0.632) did not significantly change.

CONCLUSIONS

Compared to NCE, women are underrepresented as speakers at APEMA, but not at SOEM. Abstract presenters are more likely to be women compared to invited speakers. While awards appear equally distributed, recipients do not mirror the proportion of women in PEM. Conference organizers and leaders in PEM should ensure gender equity in national recognition.

Gender representation in leadership & research: a 13-year review of the Annual Canadian Society of Otolaryngology Meetings

BACKGROUND

The gender disparity in surgical disciplines, specifically in speakers across North American medical and surgical specialty conferences, has been highlighted in recent literature. Improving gender diversity at society meetings and panels may provide many benefits. Our aim was to determine the state of gender diversity amongst presenters and speakers at the annual Canadian Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (CSO) meetings.

METHODS

Scientific programs for the CSO annual meetings from 2008 to 2020 were obtained from the national society website. Participant name, role, gender, location, and subspecialty topic were recorded for all roles other than poster presenter. Gender (male or female) was determined using an online search. The total number of opportunity spots and proportion of women was then calculated. Gender differences were analyzed using chi-square test and logistic regression with odds ratios. Four categories were analyzed: Society Leadership, Invited Speaker Opportunities, Workshop Composition (male-only panels or "manels", female-only panels, or with at least one female speaker), and Oral Paper Presenters (first authors).

RESULTS

There were 1874 leadership opportunity spots from 2008 to 2020, of which 18.6% were filled by women. Among elected leadership positions in the society, only 92 unique women filled 738 leadership opportunity spots. 13.2% of workshop chairs, 20.8% of panelists and 22.7% of paper session chairs were female. There was an overall increase in the proportion of leadership positions held by women, from 13.9% of leadership spots in 2008 to 30.1% in 2020. Of the 368 workshops, 61.1% were led by men only, 36.4% by at least 1 female surgeon, and 2.5% by women only. "Manels" have comprised at least 37.5% of workshops each year.

CONCLUSIONS

The proportion of women in speaking roles at the annual CSO meetings has generally increased over time, particularly among panelists, leading to fewer male-only speaking panels. However, there has been a slower rate of growth in the proportion of unique women in speaker roles. There remains an opportunity to increase gender/sex diversity at the major Canadian otolaryngology meeting.

Demographic Representation Among Speakers and Program Committee Members at the IDWeek Conference, 2013-2021

BACKGROUND

In 2016, the IDWeek program committee was charged with ensuring gender equity in speaker sessions. Whether this charge also resulted in more opportunities for historically underrepresented speakers is unknown.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective analysis of trends in the demographic composition of IDWeek speakers and program committee members between 2013 and 2021. We used descriptive statistics to summarize data, χ2 tests to compare speaker demographics between 2013-2016 (before 2016) and 2017-2021 (after 2016), and Cochran-Armitage tests for trend. Each speaker slot was considered an independent event.

RESULTS

A total of 5482 speaker slots were filled by 3389 individuals from 2013 to 2021. There was a linear increase in female speakers from 38.6% in 2013 to 58.4% in 2021 (P < .001). The proportion of white speakers decreased overall from 84.9% in 2013 to 63.5% in 2021. Compared with white speakers, more slots were filled by Asian speakers after 2016 versus before 2016 (20.1% vs 14.8%, respectively; P < .001). Program committee members from 2013-2021 were >80% non-Hispanic white; <5% of committee members identified as black, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, or Hispanic. More program committee slots were filled by women after 2016 than before 2016 (52.7% vs 33.9%; P = .004).

CONCLUSIONS

Intentional consideration of gender equity by the program committee was associated with equitable gender representation of invited speakers at IDWeek after 2016. Gradually, the proportions of IDWeek speakers from historically excluded racial/ethnic approached their respective proportions in the IDSA membership. White speakers remained overrepresented relative to membership proportions until 2021, and gaps in program committee racial/ethnic demographic representation highlights opportunities for continued inclusion, diversity, access, and equity at IDWeek.

Gender differences in publication rates at Canadian Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery annual meetings: an 11-year analysis

BACKGROUND

Evaluating gender differences in publication rates after conference presentations is an avenue to assess women's contributions to academic medicine. The objective of this study was to assess gender differences in publication rates, time to publication, and subspeciality of publication of abstracts presented at Canadian otolaryngology conferences over an 11-year period.

METHODS

Cross-sectional data was obtained from online conference schedules of annual Canadian Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery national meetings between 2009 and 2020. A total of 2111 abstract titles were searched in MedLine via PubMed. Gender of the first and senior author, publication status of presented work, and subspeciality of publication were extracted.

RESULTS

Of 2111 scientific abstracts presented between 2009 and 2020, female first and senior authors accounted for 29.0% and 12.8% of published abstracts, respectively. There was a significant difference in the publication rate of senior authors by gender (p < 0.01). Male senior authors had a 9.70% higher rate of publication compared to female senior authors. Posters with a female first author were 33.0% (OR: 0.67; 95% CI 0.49-0.91) less likely to be published compared to posters with a male first author. Similarly, posters with a female senior author were 34.0% (OR: 0.66; 95% CI 0.45-0.96) less likely to be published. There was a significant difference in discipline of publication by gender of the senior author (p < 0.001). Male senior authors were more likely to supervise projects in otology while female senior authors were more likely to supervise projects in education and pediatrics. The time to publication and impact factor of the journal of publication did not differ by gender.

CONCLUSION

Gender disparities exist in the publication rates of first and senior authors at Canadian otolaryngology meetings. Female senior authors have significantly lower publication rates compared to their male colleagues and differences exist in publication rates after poster presentations. Investigation of gender gaps in academic medicine, research productivity, and publications is essential for development of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce in otolaryngology.

Trends in the representation of women in the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology program at the Pediatric Academic Society annual meetings 2012-2021

Introduction

Women are under-represented in virtually all fields of academic medicine. Even in pediatrics, a field that historically attracts a workforce with a majority of women physicians, substantial gender disparities persist in leadership positions. However, previous studies of gender representation in various academic settings are limited to small studies or aggregate pediatric subspecialties, thereby omitting important granularity within each subspecialty. No prior studies have investigated potential gender disparities in pediatric nephrology. The aim of this study is to determine the representation of women physicians in leadership and speaking roles in the annual American Society of Pediatric Nephrology (ASPN) meeting.

Methods

Data were analyzed from the 2012-2022 ASPN annual scientific meetings at the Pediatric Academic Society (PAS). Data were abstracted regarding gender and roles: speaker, chair/moderator, and lifetime achievement awardee. We performed a time series analysis using linear regression, with the year as the independent variable and the proportion of women as the dependent variable.

Results

Overall, there were statistically significant increases in the proportion of women speakers per year and percentage of women chairs or moderators. There were no specific trends noted for lifetime achievement awards and no statistically significant changes in the number of lifetime achievement awards.

Discussion

We found proportionate representations of gender representation with regards to speakers and chairs or moderators, although our data was limited by comparison to the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) workforce cumulative "ever certified" data. The ABP data include a disproportionate representation of faculty who are men from earlier certification periods who may no longer be actively practicing pediatric nephrology.

Gender Difference in Teaching Evaluation Scores of Pediatric Faculty

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate associations between faculty gender and milestone-based teaching assessment scores assigned by residents.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective cohort study of milestone-based clinical teaching assessments of pediatric faculty completed by pediatric residents at a mid-sized residency program from July 2016 to June 2019. Assessments included 3 domains (Clinical Interactions, Teaching Skills, Role Modeling/Professionalism) comprised of a total of 11 sub-competency items. We used multilevel logistic regression accounting for repeat measures and clustering to evaluate associations between faculty gender and assessment scores in the 1) top quartile, 2) bottom quartile, or 3) top-box (highest score). Findings were adjusted for faculty rank and academic track, and resident year and gender.

RESULTS

Over 3 years, 2889 assessments of 104 faculty were performed by 91 residents. Between assessments of women and men faculty, there were no significant differences in the odds of receiving a score in the top quartile for the 3 domains (Clinical aOR 0.99, P = .86; Teaching aOR 0.99, P = .93; Role Modeling aOR 0.87, P = .089). However, assessments of women were more likely to receive a score in the bottom quartile in both Teaching (aOR 1.23, P = .019) and Role Modeling (aOR 1.26, P = .008). Assessments of women also had lower odds of receiving the highest score in 6 of 11 sub-competencies.

CONCLUSION

Results suggest that gender bias may play a role in resident assessments of pediatric faculty. Future studies are needed to determine if findings are replicated in other settings and to identify opportunities to reduce the gender gap in pediatric academic medicine.

Gender and early-career faculty disparities in hematology and oncology board review lecture series

Participation of women and early-career faculty in hematology and medical oncology board review lecture series has not been studied previously. We aimed to evaluate gender and early-career faculty disparities in hematology and medical oncology board review lecture series. Speakers at major hematology and/or oncology board review lecture series meetings in the United States were analyzed in this cross-sectional study during a 5-year period from the years 2017 through 2021. Data about the lecture topic, field, speaker's gender, years of experience, and the frequency at which the lecture was given by the speaker were collected. Of 386 speakers participating, 315 (81.6%) were ABIM (American Board of Internal Medicine)-certified. A total of 1,224 board review lectures were given in the studied period, of which 1,016 (83%) were given by an ABIM-certified speaker. Women constituted 37.7% of all speakers, with less than 50% representation in five out of six courses. Lectures discussing malignant hematology topics had the lowest proportion of women presenters (24.8%), followed by solid tumors (38.9%) and benign hematology lectures (44.1%). Faculty with more than 15 years since initial certification presented more than 50% of lectures. The median time from initial hematology or medical oncology certification to lecture presentation was 12.5 years and 14 years, respectively. A positive trend in the participation of women was found at all board review conferences across the studied period. Our data suggest that women and early-career faculty participation in hematology and oncology board review series is inadequate.

Perceived Barriers to Professional Equality Among Women in Gastroenterology

Although significant progress relating to professional equality among men and women in medicine has been made over the past few decades, evidence derived from the medical literature suggests that inequity persists with respect to income, attainment of leadership positions, and professional advancement. These inequities have been observed to be more pronounced in gastroenterology. Literature relating to gender-specific barriers to professional equity in gastroenterology is limited. This qualitative study explored perceived barriers to professional equality among women in gastroenterology in Canada through focus groups using a World Café Approach. Several perceived barriers to professional equality were identified. Identification of barriers to professional equality is an important first step to creating meaningful interventions that address the root causes of gender-related inequity in gastroenterology.

Gender Disparities in Presentations at the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Meetings From 2014 to 2019

BACKGROUND

Participation in surgical society meetings serves as a proxy for academic success and is important for career development. This study aimed to investigate and report the gender breakdown of presenters at recent Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) meetings.

METHODS

Genders of presenters for poster, parallel, plenary, and video sessions at SSO meetings from 2014 through 2019 were collected. These data were broken down to first-last authorship relationships including female-female, female-male, male-female, and male-male. The proportions of female-to-male presenters were compared for each session type. Statistical significance was set at p value lower than 0.05.

RESULTS

From 2014 through 2019, the SSO had 2920 presenters, and 47% were female. Women were listed as first authors more often for the poster session (48%) than for other sessions (parallel, plenary, and video) (p = 0.003). Women also were listed more often as senior authors for the poster session (31%) than for other sessions (p = 0.004). Female senior authors were fewer than male senior authors across all session types. Female first authors had the highest representation in breast (75%), endocrine (48%), and cutaneous (46%) specialties (p < 0.001). The most common combination of first and senior authors was male-male (43%), followed by female-male (28%), female-female (19%), and male-female (10%).

CONCLUSION

Overall, female presentation at SSO is comparable with society demographics, and female first authorship is relatively equal to male first authorship in poster sessions. Whereas female first authorship improved over time, female senior authorship remained relatively flat. Opportunities to improve gender equality in senior authorship positions should be explored.

Are professors of human nutrition faculty at Canadian universities representative with respect to common social constructs of gender and race?

Attributes such as sex and race/ethnicity are associated with inequities in representation. The objective of this study was to assess representation of 2 social constructs, gender and race, of professors of human nutrition in Canada. Using information publicly available October 2021, individuals with the title of assistant, associate, or full professor were identified on websites of 20 Canadian universities offering undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in human nutrition. Individuals were subjectively stratified to social constructs, i.e., white, racialized, or Indigenous, based on photographs, ethnic origin of a surname, and regional and ethnic origin disclosures on university websites, LinkedIn, social media, etc. Gender was assigned based on publicly available photographs and self-disclosed pronouns (when available). Of the 190 individuals, 80% were white, 16.4% were racialized, and 2.6% were Indigenous peoples. The majority (65.3%) were women. In a subset with established doctoral thesis dates and dates of hire at their current institution (n = 153), racialized and Indigenous professors, especially assistant and associate, had earned their doctorate and been hired more recently than their white peers. This study is limited because only individuals with professorial titles were included and the assignment of social constructs for race and gender was subjective. Nevertheless, it establishes an understanding of the proportions of professors of human nutrition who are white, racialized, Indigenous, women, and men. Novelty: Canadian universities strive to be equitable, diverse, and inclusive. One hundred and ninety professors of human nutrition were stratified using social constructs for race and gender. Findings: 65% Women, 80% white, 16.4% racialized, and 2.6% Indigenous.

Tweetorials: Digital scholarship deserving of inclusion in promotion portfolios

Since their first appearance in 2018, tweetorials have emerged as a popular tool for medical education. Despite some calls for their inclusion in educational and promotion portfolios, questions have been raised about the appropriateness of these forms of digital scholarship. Also unclear is how a promotion committee might identify educational tweetorials most deserving of inclusion. We argue that educational tweetorials do warrant consideration as digital scholarship and offer a means of evaluation that promotion committees might use when assessing an individual tweetorial.

Assessment of Gender Parity: Leadership Representation in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

Background: Academic centers' and professional societies' top leadership representation and professional societies' award recipients remain disparate by gender in many fields. Little is known regarding leadership representation and recognition within pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine (PCCM), which has ∼22% women physicians. We sought to understand the landscape of female PCCM leaders. Methods: We abstracted gender of fellowship program directors (PDs), Department of Medicine (DOM) Chairs and Division Chiefs from academic medical centers with PCCM fellowship programs from 2018 and for comparison 2008. We abstracted leadership and recognition award recipients within four PCCM professional societies from 2013 to 2018 (American Thoracic Society [ATS], American Academy of Sleep Medicine [AASM], American College of Chest Physicians [CHEST], and Society of Critical Care Medicine [SCCM]). Results: In 2018, 29% of PCCM PD, 15% of PCCM Division Chiefs, and 15% of DOM Chairs were women. There were significantly more female PDs in 2018 (29%) compared with 2008 (16%, p = 0.04). On average, 25% of society presidents were women, with 28% of PCCM societal awards going to women, with significant difference between societies (p = 0.04). Each society differed in average distribution of female board members over the 6-year period: ATS 38%, AASM 35%, CHEST 18%, and SCCM 44% (p < 0.001). Conclusion: PCCM leadership and societal recognition are disparate by gender with few women holding top leadership roles and receiving societal recognition. Fortunately, the distribution notably is starting to reflect the specialty's demographics. Understanding why these inequalities exist will be essential to achieving gender parity in PCCM.

Representation of Women in Ophthalmology Receiving Private Industry Funding 2015-2018

PURPOSE

To report the representation of female ophthalmologists receiving private industry funding from 2015 through 2018, and to compare to previously observed trends.

DESIGN

Retrospective, comparative trend study METHODS: The study population consisted of US ophthalmologists listed in CMS Open Payments Database. Data were reviewed for payments for research, consulting, honoraria, industry grants, faculty and speakers, royalties, and services other than consulting. The primary outcome measure was percentage of female representation compared to male in each sub-category of payment.

RESULTS

The percentage of female, board-certified ophthalmologists who practiced in the United States ranged from 21.3% to 24.1%. The total number of reported ophthalmologists with industry ties ranged from 1629 to 1873, of whom between 17.2% and 19.4% were women. Women received significantly less industry compensation by than men in 2015 (median average $3273 vs $4825, P = .003), 2016 ($3600 vs $4750, P = .023), 2017 ($2493 vs $3500, P = .013), and 2018 ($2000 vs $3000, P = .011). Women remained underrepresented in receiving payments for research (ranging from 5.4% of total paid for research to 8.0%), consulting (11%-17.4%), honoraria (6%-14.9%), industry grants (4%-41.2%), royalties and licenses (0.1%-10.2%), faculty and speakers (11.6%-16.4%), and services other than consulting (8.4%-28.9%). Compared to 2013-2014, an increasing proportion of women received industry payments for consulting (P = .012), honoraria (P = .007), royalties and licenses (P = .019), faculty and speakers (P = .007), and services other than consulting (P = .007).

CONCLUSIONS

Female ophthalmologists remain underrepresented in terms of the percentage of women who receive private industry funding and dollar value of the funding.

Do Women Have a Seat at the Table: Trends in Female Representation Among the Board of Directors in American Urological Association Subspecialty Societies

Introduction

Although women remain vastly underrepresented in urology, the proportion of female urology residents and practicing urologists has steadily increased over the last four decades. However, it remains critical to evaluate the representation of females in the pipeline when examining trainees and practicing urologists. As it pertains to leadership positions, the gender distribution among the board of directors (BOD) and committee chairs in the American Urological Association (AUA) subspecialties has not been studied to date. Therefore, we plan to analyze the proportion of females among the BOD and committee chairs in different subspecialty societies recognized by the AUA over time.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional observational study, quantitatively comparing the composition of gender in BOD and Committee Chair members belonging to different AUA-recognized subspecialty societies from 2014 to 2020. The websites for each subspecialty society were searched and contacted.

Results

We evaluated BODs from 10 AUA subspecialty societies and committee chair members from 6 AUA subspecialty societies. From 2014 to 2020, the total proportion of female BOD amongst all AUA sub-specialty societies did not change significantly, with a small increase from 10.6% (n = 29) to 13.5% (n = 36). However, female representation among committee chair members significantly increased from 9.8% (n = 20) to 19.2% (n = 44; p = 0.006), along with the total number of women in urology, from 897 (8.9%) to 1,375 (10.3%). Increases in female representation were seen in the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction (SSMR) from 0% to 9% and in the Indian American Urological Association (IAUA) from 4% to 13%. Of note, there were no elected female board members in the Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) or the Urologic Society for Transplantation and Renal Surgery (USTRS) from 2014 to 2020.

Conclusion

Females remain a minority in leadership positions at AUA sub-specialty societies despite increased female representation in recent years. Future efforts should promote the advancement of women to positions of leadership to reflect the changing landscape of the urology workforce and surgical specialties.

Gender Distribution of Scholarship and Measures of National Recognition in Hospital Medicine

OBJECTIVE

Our specific aim was to assess the gender distribution of aspects of scholarly productivity and professional standing for pediatric hospital medicine over a 5-year period. We also evaluated for correlation between the makeup of editorial boards, conference planning committees, and chosen content.

METHODS

We reviewed scholarly publications, presentations, editorial boards, planning committees, awardees, and society leadership in pediatric hospital medicine from 2015 to 2019 and determined gender using published methods to assess for differences between observed proportions of women authors and presenters and the proportion of women in the field.

RESULTS

The field of pediatric hospital medicine at large is 69% women (95% confidence internal [CI] 68%-71%), and an estimated 57% of senior members are women (95% CI 54%-60%). We evaluated 570 original science manuscripts and found 67% (95% CI 63%-71%) women first authors and 49% (95% CI 44%-53%) women senior authors. We evaluated 1093 presentations at national conferences and found 69% (95% CI 65%-72%) women presenters of submitted content and 44% (95% CI 37%-51%) women presenters of invited content. Senior authorship and invited speaking engagements demonstrated disproportionately low representation of women when compared with senior members of the field (senior authorship, P = .002; invited presenters, P < .001). Strong positive correlation between gender composition of conference planning committees and selected content was also noted (r = 0.94).

CONCLUSION

Our study demonstrated representative gender distribution for some aspects of scholarly productivity in pediatric hospital medicine; however, a lack of gender parity exists in senior roles.

Representation of women at American Psychiatric Association annual meetings over 10 years (between 2009 and 2019)

OBJECTIVE

Sex disparity is a major societal issue. The aim of this paper was to describe changes in the representation of women among speakers of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual meeting over 10 years, between 2009 and 2019 and to compare them to changes in the proportion of women among American psychiatrists.

METHODS

Data were collected from the programs of the APA annual meetings of 2009 and 2019, and from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Descriptive and comparative statistical analyses were performed.

RESULTS

There were 1,138 distinct speakers at the 2009 conference and 1,784 at the 2019 conference. The number of distinct female speakers increased from 413 (36.3%) to 813 (45.6%). The proportion of female speakers at the meetings was almost equivalent to the proportion of women in the American psychiatrists' workforce. The number of female chairs increased from 158 (39.6%) to 322 (46.4%). There were 38 female speakers in child and adolescent psychiatry in 2009 (51.4% of 74 speakers) and 74 in 2019 (51.0% of 155 speakers).

CONCLUSIONS

The representation of women at the APA annual meetings increased between 2009 and 2019. At the same time, the growth in the percentage of women in the American psychiatrists' workforce was slower. The APA appears to promote female representation during its annual meetings.

(#WomeninDDW) Persistent Speaker Gender Gap at the Premier Digestive Disease Event

BACKGROUND

Over the last few decades, advances have been made regarding gender equality starting from medical students to trainees, to leadership in academics. The female representation in specialty academic conferences not only reflects the existing gender disparities in that specialty but also can influence young female trainees to join that field. Digestive Disease Week (DDW) is the premier digestive disease event. We aimed to calculate the proportion of female representation among speakers and moderators at the DDW meetings held from 2018 to 2020.

METHODS

The data for DDW 2018-2020 were collected via the online web-based planner. The gender of speakers of presentations and moderators of sessions were identified by a google search. We further categorized the data by each participating society (AGA, ASGE, AASLD, and SSAT), by presentation track, by session track, and total overall representation in each year.

RESULTS

Despite the subject of the gender gap being in focus, the proportion of female moderators and speakers was low in DDW in the last 3 years. The female speakers constituted 31.6% in 2018, 33.8% in 2019 and 34.6% in 2020. There was slightly improved female representation in sessions of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Stomach, and Small Bowel Disorders, Microbiome in GI & Liver disease, and Basic Science over the last 3 years.

CONCLUSION

Based on our study and those referenced in this article, we believe that strategies to promote the inclusivity of female moderators and speakers at DDW provide a huge opportunity to influence gender equity within GI.

Gender gap at a large European urological congress: still at the beginning

PURPOSE

Women are underrepresented at scientific conferences, decreasing the visibility of female role models, which are vital for aspiring young female scientists. This investigation aimed to evaluate female representation at the German Society of Urology's (GSoU) annual meeting.

METHODS

The programs of the GSoU meeting of 2011, 2018, 2019 and the virtual conference in 2020 were retrospectively quantified by gender and categorized by chair or speaker, type, and topic of the session. Descriptive analysis was applied. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify gender inequity and variables influencing gender distribution. A p value of < 0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS

A total of 2.504 chairs and speakers were invited to the GSoU meeting in 2018 and 2019. Female speakers or chairs were represented in 17.8%, indicating a gender gap of 64.7%. There were significant differences between session type, topic, and gender distribution for chairs and speakers. The topic surgical techniques were independent variables for both, underrepresented female chairs and speakers, respectively (p < 0.001). Vocational policy and plenary session were not represented by any female chair in 2011, 2018, and 2019. In comparison, the gender gap in 2011 was 74.2%, indicating a gap reduction of 1.2% per year. In a selected virtual program in 2020, the gender gap increased to 70.4%.

CONCLUSION

There is still a significant discrepancy between gender representation at the GSoU annual meetings, and gender equity is currently not expected before 50 years. Future efforts should address the implementation of established guidelines for achieving gender equity at urological conferences.

Female Representation: Australian Diabetes and Endocrinology Societies

BACKGROUND

Endocrinology has one of the highest proportions of female specialists and trainees, however females have traditionally been underrepresented in leadership positions and as speakers at scientific meetings.

HYPOTHESIS

Females would represent less than half of invited speakers (plenary, symposium sessions) at endocrinology conferences and in leadership positions of endocrinology societies.

METHOD

An audit of Australian diabetes and endocrinology societies and their respective annual scientific meetings between 2016 - 2020. Analysis of the gender of conference speakers across oral, symposium and plenary sessions, session chairs, program organising committees and society committees.

RESULTS

A total of 1638 speakers (females 856, 52.3%) across 550.4 hours (females 273.6, 49.7%) of presentations at the conferences were identified. Among plenary sessions of all 3 societies there were more male (61%) than female speakers. A total of 608 session chairs were identified, with 313 (51.5%) females. The majority of organising committee members (n=116) were female (56%), however the representation across each organising committee varied. There was a low proportion of society female council members (39% female).

CONCLUSION

There was an equal representation of females and males as conference speakers and session chairs. However, there was an underrepresentation of women in more prestigious roles of plenary speakers and society council members. We implore conscious efforts to address this disparity.

Identification and Assessment of Strategies to Address Gender Inequity in the Specialty of Critical Care Medicine: A Scoping Review, Modified Consensus Process, and Stakeholder Meeting

We sought to identify and prioritize improvement strategies that Critical Care Medicine (CCM) programs could use to inform and advance gender equity among physicians in CCM.

DESIGN

This study involved three sequential phases: 1) scoping review that identified strategies to improve gender equity in all medical specialties; 2) modified consensus process with 48 CCM stakeholders to rate and rank identified strategies; and 3) in-person stakeholder meeting to refine strategies and discuss facilitators and barriers to their implementation.

SETTING

CCM.

SUBJECTS

CCM stakeholders (physicians, researchers, and decision-makers; mutually inclusive).

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

We identified 190 unique strategies from 416 articles. Strategies were grouped thematically into 20 categories across four overarching pillars of equity: access, participation, reimbursement, and culture. Participants prioritized 22 improvement strategies for implementation in CCM. The top-rated strategy from each pillar included: 1) nominate gender diverse candidates for faculty positions and prestigious opportunities (equitable access); 2) mandate training in unconscious bias and equitable treatment for committee (e.g., hiring, promotion) members (equitable participation); 3) ensure equitable starting salaries regardless of sex or gender (equitable reimbursement); and, 4) conduct 360° evaluations of leaders (including their direct work circle of supervisors, peers, and subordinates) through a diversity lens (equitable culture). Interprofessional collaboration, leadership, and local champions were identified as key enablers for implementation.

CONCLUSIONS

We identified stakeholder-prioritized strategies that can be used to inform and enhance gender equity among physicians in CCM under four overarching equity pillars: access, participation, reimbursement, and culture. Implementation approaches should include education, policy creation, and measurement, and reporting.

Female leadership in oncology-has progress stalled? Data from the ESMO W4O authorship and monitoring studies

Background

Exploratory research showed that female oncologists are frequently under-represented in leadership roles. European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Women for Oncology (W4O) therefore implemented gender equality programs in career development and established international studies on female representation at all stages of the oncology career pathway.

Methods

For 2017-2019, data were collected on (i) first and last authorship of publications in five major oncology journals and (ii) representation of women in leadership positions in oncology—as invited speakers at National/International congresses, board members or presidents of National/International societies and ESMO members. The 2015/2016 data from the first published W4O Study were incorporated for comparisons.

Results

Across 2017-2019, female oncologists were significantly more likely to be first than last authors (P < 0.001). The proportion of female first authors was similar across years: 38.0% in 2017, 37.1% in 2018, 41.0% in 2019 (P = 0.063). The proportion of female last authors decreased from 30.4% in 2017 to 24.2% in 2018 (P = 0.0018) and increased to 28.5% in 2019 (P = 0.018). Across 2015-2019, invited speakers at International/National oncology congresses were significantly less likely to be female than male (P < 0.001; 29.7% in 2015 to 36.8% in 2019). Across 2016-2019, board members of International/National oncology societies were significantly less likely to be female than male (P < 0.001; 26.8% in 2016 to 35.8% in 2019). There were statistically significant increasing trends in female speakers and board members across the study periods (P < 0.001 for both). Societies with a female president had a higher proportion of female board members across these periods (P = 0.026).

Conclusions

Reported progress towards gender equality in career development in oncology is real but slow. Women in leadership positions are essential for encouraging young women to aspire to and work towards similar or greater success. Therefore, continued monitoring is needed to inform ESMO W4O initiatives to promote gender balance at all stages of the career pathway.

•

Across 2017-2019, female oncologists were significantly more likely to be first than last authors (P < 0.001).

•

Across 2015-2019, invited speakers at International/National oncology congresses were significantly less likely to be female.

•

Across 2016-2019, board members of International/National oncology societies were significantly less likely to be female.

•

Societies with a female president had a higher proportion of female board members across these periods.

•

Reported progress towards gender equality in career development in oncology is real but slow.

A Year Into the Pandemic: An Update on Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine (STEMM)

The coronavirus pandemic revealed long-standing, unaddressed fissures in our systems, including dramatic gender inequities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) fields. Women have disproportionately carried the burden of child care and other caregiving responsibilities during the pandemic, and there are strong indications that the pandemic will likely exacerbate pre-existing disparities in the pipeline of women in STEMM and in leadership positions. Based on a literature review, our own experiences and the experiences of our colleagues, we review promising strategies that have been implemented by funding bodies, journals, professional societies, and colleges/universities as well as additional strategies that might be helpful for these entities to implement in order to move forward with policies in place that address gender inequities and rebuild our institutional systems better. At this moment in time, institutions should collect data on metrics such as recruitment, retention, tenure/promotion, funding, professional society membership, awards/honors, and scientific publishing. These data will be essential in determining the impact of policies on women in STEMM to ensure they are having the intended effect as well as what future actions might be necessary in an iterative process.

Trend in women representation among authors of high rank rheumatology journals articles, 2002-2019

OBJECTIVE

The representation of women among authors of peer reviewed scientific papers is gradually increasing. The aims of this study were to examine the trend of the proportion of women among authors in the field of rheumatology during the last two decades.

METHODS

Articles published in journals ranked in the top quartile of the field of rheumatology in the years 2002-2019 were analysed. The authorship positions of all authors, country of the article's source and manuscript type were retrieved by specifically designed software.

RESULTS

Overall, 153 856 author names were included in the final analysis. Of them, 55 608 (36.1%) were women. There was a significant rise in the percentage of women authors over time (r = 0.979, P <0.001) from 30.9% in 2002 to 41.2% in 2018, with a slight decline to 39.8% in 2019. There were significantly fewer women in the senior author positions compared with the first author positions (24.3% in senior position vs 40.9% as first author, P <0.001).

CONCLUSION

The proportion of women among authors of rheumatology articles has increased over the years, both in general and as a first or senior author; however, their proportion is still <50% and there is still a gap between the proportion of women among first authors and the proportion of women among senior authors.

Analysis of scientific society honors reveals disparities

Delivering a keynote talk at a conference organized by a scientific society or being named as a fellow by such a society indicates that a scientist is held in high regard by their colleagues. To explore if the distribution of such indicators of esteem in the field of bioinformatics reflects the composition of this field, we compared the gender, name origin, and country of affiliation of 412 honorees from the "International Society for Computational Biology" (75 fellows and 337 keynote speakers) with over 170,000 last authorships on computational biology papers between 1993 and 2019. The proportion of honors bestowed on women was similar to that of the field's overall last authorship rate. However, names of East Asian origin have been persistently underrepresented among honorees. Moreover, there were roughly twice as many honors bestowed on scientists with an affiliation in the United States as expected based on literature authorship. A record of this paper's transparent peer review process is included in the supplemental information.

Here to chair: Gender differences in the path to leadership

OBJECTIVE

Career paths leading to department chair positions are elusive. Women represent only 11% of academic emergency department (ED) chairs. It is unclear whether the pathway to chair is different for men and women; the characteristics, achievements, and qualifications among those who become ED chairs is unknown.

METHODS

This study is a cross-sectional analysis of curriculum vitae (CV) of current ED chairs in departments with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited residency programs. Former women chairs were included due to paucity of current women chairs. Statistics were calculated using bivariate and multivariate analysis.

RESULTS

Of 163 eligible chairs, 88 CV (54%) were obtained, including six former women chairs. A majority (86.4%) self-identified as White/Caucasian, 21.5% were women, 46% were chief residents, 28.4% completed additional postgraduate degrees, and 21.8% were fellowship trained. At time of chair appointment, 58% were professor rank, 53.5% held ED operations roles, and 32% served as vice chair. Women were more likely to be in educational (53% vs. 22%) versus operational (26% vs. 61%, p = 0.02) roles. Women obtained more advanced degrees (47% vs. 25%, p = 0.02), were awarded more nonfederal grants (median = 7 vs. 3, p = 0.04), and achieved more national committee leadership (median = 4 vs. 1, p = 0.02). There were no gender differences in fellowship training, awards, leadership training programs, publications, federal grants, or national/international lectures after adjusting for years in practice.

CONCLUSION

While the majority of chairs held prior leadership roles in ED operations, only one in five women chairs did, suggesting gender differences in the path to chair attainment. These differences in paths may contribute to persistent gender disparities in ED chairs and may be influenced by career path choices, implicit bias, and structural barriers.

Trends in Number of Women Speakers at the American Head and Neck Society Meetings, 2007-2019

Importance

The number of female speakers at American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) conferences should ideally be consistent with the number of women entering head and neck surgery fellowships to ensure gender equity in the field. Yet the presence of women speakers at the annual AHNS meetings, which is specific to the field of head and neck cancer, endocrine and microvascular reconstructive surgery, has yet to be studied.

Objective

To determine whether the proportion of female speakers at the AHNS has increased in a manner consistent with the numbers of women entering fellowships since 2007.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This qualitative study assessed 13 final meeting programs from AHNS national/international conferences from 2007 to 2019. The number of male and female participants in different roles throughout the meeting were retrospectively tracked. Participants were male and female speakers at AHNS national/international conferences who took part in the roles of scientific session presenter, scientific session moderator, expert panelist, miscellaneous moderator, and named lecturers/keynote speaker. Gender of the speaker was determined by searching names on the internet and using available published pronouns.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Number of speaking opportunities for men and women in different roles from 2007 to 2019 as well as number of men and women entering AHNS fellowships since 2007 and new active AHNS members since 2012.

Results

In this qualitative study, from 2007 to 2019, 4059 speakers were identified. Of these speakers, 902 (22%) were women and 3157 (78%) were men. Overall, there was a strong correlation between increasing years and number of women speakers from 2007 to 2019 (ρ = 0.75; 95% CI, 0.72-0.78). There were 2096 invited speaking roles that excluded research presentations, of which 400 were offered to female participants (19.1%) across the study period. There were 131 different women that made up all 400 of the opportunities that were offered to women in the years surveyed. There was a strong correlation in the proportion of women as presenters for oral abstracts, expert panelists, and miscellaneous moderators between the years but no correlation in scientific session moderators and named lecturers/keynote speakers. Of the 45 named lecturers/keynote speakers in the programs tracked, only 2 were women.

Conclusions and Relevance

In this study, from 2007 to 2019, the presence of women at ANHS has increased overall, reflecting the changing demographic characteristics of those entering in head and neck oncology and microvascular surgery fellowships. However, a strong disparity continues to exist for preeminent speaking opportunities.

Speaking Up and Speaking Out: Gender Diversity in the Scientific Programme of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Annual Scientific Congress

Background

Disparities in gender representation at medical meetings have been documented despite women representing half of medical school graduating classes. Lack of role models is touted as one of a myriad of factors that perpetuate gender imbalance, particularly in the field of surgery. We evaluated the trend in gender distribution of participants at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Annual Scientific Congress (ASC) and whether there was a correlation between the gender distribution of the organising committee and speakers and chairpersons invited to attend.

Methods

RACS ASC programmes from 2013 to 2018 were retrospectively analysed, examining the gender distribution of speakers, chairpersons and conveners. Trend analysis of distribution was performed, and a generalized linear mixed model was used to investigate the effect of the gender of the conveners on gender of session chairpersons and speakers.

Results

Between 2013 and 2018, there were non-significant increases in female speakers invited to speak from 14.9 to 21.7% (p = 0.064) and female conveners appointed from 11 to 19% (p = 0.115), but there was a significant increase in female chairs from 9.6 to 21.6% p < 0.001). Female conveners were 3 times more likely to invite female speakers than male conveners (p < 0.001) and were 20 times more likely to invite female chairs than male conveners (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Visible role models are important in the pursuit of gender equity in surgery in order to break down stereotypes and the hidden curriculum. Intentional effort is required to achieve parity, and such efforts could include appointing more women to organising committees of scientific meetings.

Speaker Introductions at Grand Rounds: Differences in Formality of Address by Gender and Specialty

Background: Despite increasing representation of women in medicine, gender bias remains pervasive. The authors sought to evaluate speaker introductions by gender in the grand rounds of multiple specialties at a large academic institution to understand the cultural context of this behavior and identify predictors of formality. Materials and Methods: The authors reviewed grand rounds recordings of speakers with doctorates presenting to the departments of family medicine, general surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics at one institution from 2014 to 2019. The primary outcome was whether a speaker's professional title was used as the first form of address. The authors assessed factors correlated with professional introduction using multivariable logistic regression. Results: Speakers were introduced professionally in 346/615 recordings (56.3%). Female introducers were more likely to introduce speakers professionally (odds ratio [OR]: 2.52). A significant interaction existed between speaker gender and home institution: female speakers visiting from an external institution were less likely than male external speakers to be introduced professionally (OR: 0.49), whereas female speakers internal to the institution were more likely to be introduced professionally than male internal speakers (OR: 1.75). Use of professional titles varied by specialty and was higher than average for family medicine (83.2%), surgery (75.8%), and pediatrics (64.0%) and lower for internal medicine (37.5%) and obstetrics and gynecology (50.7%). Conclusions: These findings suggest a complex relationship between gender and formality of introduction that merits further investigation. Understanding differences in culture across specialties is important to inform efforts to promote equity.

A New Decade for Diversity: Trends in Representation of Women at the Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons

BACKGROUND

In 2018, the Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons first Women in Plastic Surgery was established, reflecting the national trend to address the gender gap between men and women in surgery. Conferences, such as the annual NESPS, are important opportunities to increase visibility of female role models and resources to address deterrents to surgical careers. We thus sought to examine the participation and visibility of women in the NESPS over the last decade.

METHODS

Abstracts and programs from the NESPS regional conferences between 2013 and 2019 were accessed via the publicly available past meetings archives, and registration lists were provided by the NESPS. Registrants, panelists, speakers, moderators, and first author and senior author listed for each poster presentation, podium presentation was listed, sex was determined (male or female), and sex were aggregated by category of participation. Significance was set at a P value of less than 0.05.

RESULTS

Registration of women for the NESPS annual conferences was constant for 5 years (2013-2017), followed by an increase in female registrants from 27.1% in 2017 to 42.3% in 2019. Female representation among poster and podium presentations also increased from 2017 to 2019 (7.7%-23.3% poster presentations and 11.1%-23.4% podium presentations). Invited positions (speakers, panelists, and moderators) had a peak of 32.2% in 2017, but otherwise, there is no clear evidence of improved representation of women.

CONCLUSIONS

We found an increase in the proportion of female registrants at the annual NESPS conferences from 2013 to 2019. However, visibility of female participants fluctuated over the same period; addressing this represents one opportunity for closing the gender gap at the NESPS. As the percentage of female trainees continues to rise, we look to female faculty to continue to participate in educational events, such as the NESPS meeting, and to be present as role models for the growing new generation of female plastic surgeons.