685: Who's at the podium?: Gender & Authorship of Oral Presentations at SMFM & SGO (1998-2018)

Abstract

Oral presentation at conferences is an important factor in national recognition, and thus academic advancement and promotion. Our objective was to describe gender trends of oral plenary first and senior authors over two decades at two Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) conferences: the Society for Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), and compare these to gender ratios of MD faculty/residents in OB/GYN over the same period. This was a retrospective observational cohort study examining three time points: 1998, 2008, and 2018. Authors were identified by looking at publicly available lists of SGO and SMFM meeting abstracts for the oral plenaries in the years of interest. We examined first and last authors by gender, degree, and country of practice (U.S., non-U.S.). Only US- based authors with an MD (or equivalent) degree were examined. We used publicly available data from the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) to determine gender breakdown faculty and residents in OB/GYN in the years of interest. The combined number of abstracts over the three years of interest was 207 for SMFM and 140 for SGO. (Table) Over the 20 years of this study, the gender ratio of residents more than doubled in obstetrics and gynecology from 2:1 (female:male) to 5:1.The female:male resident ratio is higher and increased more rapidly than the gender ratio of both first and senior authorship, as well as faculty. First authorship for women within SMFM increases more rapidly than SGO, and the latter seems to plateau between 2008 and 2018. Female senior authorship has improved for SMFM in 2018, but still lags within SGO compared to both resident and faculty gender ratios and first authorship ratios. (Figure) Oral plenary first and senior authorship and faculty positions have lagged in comparison to the percentage of female residents. Despite the large influx of female OB/GYNs, their participation in academic research and oral presentation at major conferences lags. Further investigation is warranted to understand what influences this trend and how the difference impacts those trainees/faculty attending conferences or aspiring to present.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT)