Abstract
BackgroundEndocrinology 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.HypothesisFemales would represent less than half of invited speakers (plenary, symposium sessions) at endocrinology conferences and in leadership positions of endocrinology societies.MethodAn 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.ResultsA 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).ConclusionThere 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.
Highlights
The proportion of female doctors is increasing, the representation of females in leadership positions of scientific societies and academia is lagging and females have been underrepresented as presenters at medical conferences [1–6]
There is underrepresentation of women at endocrinology conferences, on society boards, in authorship of endocrinology guidelines and editorial positions of scientific journals [1, 6, 8–10]. The reasons for this are not entirely understood but barriers to females advancing through academia and into leadership positions are well documented in healthcare and require multi-faceted organisational intervention to address such disparities [11]
Overall oral presentations accounted for 35% of conference time, symposium sessions accounted for 51% (283.4 hours) and plenary sessions accounted for 14% (74.8 hours)
Summary
The proportion of female doctors is increasing, the representation of females in leadership positions of scientific societies and academia is lagging and females have been underrepresented as presenters at medical conferences [1–6]. Endocrinology has one of the highest proportions of female workforce, with females representing 55% of consultant. There is underrepresentation of women at endocrinology conferences, on society boards, in authorship of endocrinology guidelines and editorial positions of scientific journals [1, 6, 8–10]. The reasons for this are not entirely understood but barriers to females advancing through academia and into leadership positions are well documented in healthcare and require multi-faceted organisational intervention to address such disparities [11]. Endocrinology has one of the highest proportions of female specialists and trainees, 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
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