Abstract
Despite the high prevalence of women in graduate degree programs and equal or more women earning PhDs, MDs, and MD/PhDs, and despite efforts at individual and institutional levels to promote women in STEM fields, there remains a disparity in pay and academic advancement of women. Likewise, there is a paucity of women in top scientific and academic leadership positions. The causes of this gender disparity are complex and multi-factorial and to date no “magic bullet” approach has been successful in changing the landscape for women in academic and scientific fields. In this report we detail our experiences with a novel mechanism for promoting discussion and raising awareness of the challenges of gender disparity in the sciences. The Gordon Research Conferences (GRC) launched the Power Hour at its meetings in 2016: a dedicated, scheduled session held during the scientific meeting to facilitate discussion of challenges specific to women in science. Here we share our experience with hosting the second Power Hour at the 2019 GRC Immunology of Fungal Infections (IFI) meeting held in Galveston, TX. We will discuss the overall structure, key discussion points, and feedback from participants with the aim of supporting future efforts to empower women and underrepresented minority groups in science.
Highlights
170 years ago, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to graduate from medical school when she finished at the top of her class at Geneva Medical School in Geneva, N.Y
The Gordon Research Conferences (GRC) launched the Power Hour at its meetings in 2016: a dedicated, scheduled session held during the scientific meeting to facilitate discussion of challenges specific to women in science
We found that hosting the Power Hour as part of the 2019 GRC IFI meeting was an engaging and educational experience
Summary
170 years ago, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to graduate from medical school when she finished at the top of her class at Geneva Medical School in Geneva, N.Y. This was reflected in reduced grant capture and smaller group sizes in the first 5 years when the PIs were women [14] This can have long term effects, as access to resources will impact on a researcher’s ability to address tenure and promotion criteria include grant capture, the generation and publication of research, and markers of external recognition of esteem (invited seminars, awards, participation on grant review panels, etc.) [17]. Within their broader research communities, women in STEM fields continue to face gender discrepancies, for example in representation as invited speakers at meetings. This is a complex and multifactorial problem that reflects institutional and individual biases, overt and subtle gender discrimination, differential societal and family roles and commitments, and different career trajectories, among other issues
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