82 Sex Disparity in Speaking Opportunities at a Major Academic Emergency Medicine Conference: Are Women Stuck Under the Glass Ceiling?

Abstract

This study investigates trends in the representation of female speakers at the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) scientific assembly - the largest academic emergency medicine conference in the world. Data was collected from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Scientific Assembly’s online database from 2016-2018. We collected information regarding each presentation given at the national conference, including the title of the presentation, speaker names, duration of the presentation, and specialty category. Speaker sex was recorded using Google searches and department Web sites. Using the Elsevier SCOPUS database, we identified h-index, number of publications, and number of times cited. Exclusion criteria were speakers who did not hold an MD or DO degree. We used SPSS software to obtain descriptive statistics and perform independent-tests. From the three years of conference data, there were a total of 939 invited speakers included in the analysis. Of the 939 invited speakers, 34.3% were women and 65.7% were men. In 2016, there were a total of 340 speakers, of whom 27.1% were female and 72.9% were male. In 2017, there were a total of 296 speakers, with women comprising 34.5% of speakers, and men making up the remaining 65.5%. In 2018, women made up 42.2% of the speakers presenting at the conference, and men made up the remaining 57.8%. Presentations given by women were shorter, on average, than presentations given by male speakers during all three years of conference data. In 2016, male presenters, on average, had statistically higher h-indices and were cited more times, on average, than their female counterparts (p-value<0.05). The average number of publications, however, did not significantly differ between men and women (p-value>0.05). In 2017 and 2018, male speakers, on average, had significantly higher h-indices, number of publications, and citations (p-value<0.05). These results demonstrate an upward trend in the representation of women speakers at the largest academic emergency medicine conference in the world. From 2016 to 2018, there was a steady increase in the proportion of female speakers, with women comprising 42.2% of all speakers at the 2018 conference. Women’s presentations also increased in length, on average, from 2016 to 2018. Despite these advancements in representation, male speakers still speak for longer, on average, and make up the majority of presenters. Although women account for a significant portion of the workforce in emergency medicine, efforts to improve female representation in academic emergency medicine are necessary. Women currently only make up 28% of the workforce in academic emergency medicine. It can be argued that improving women’s representation at scientific conferences may result in more opportunities for female engagement in academic emergency medicine.