Gender of Award Recipients in Major Ophthalmology Societies

Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen,Sanyam Ratan,Ankita Biyani,Xuan-Vi Trinh,Solin Saleh,Yang Sun,Albert Y Wu

doi:10.1016/j.ajo.2021.05.021

Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen, Sanyam Ratan + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2021.05.021

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Abstract

To assess the gender distribution of major ophthalmology society award recipients DESIGN: Retrospective, observational study METHODS: The study population included award recipients from 9 ophthalmologic societies: American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, American Glaucoma Society, American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, American Society of Retina Specialists, American Uveitis Society, Cornea Society, and North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society. A gender-specific pronoun and a photograph of each award recipient were extracted from professional websites to assign their gender. Main outcome measures were gender distribution by award society, year (1970-2020), type (lectureship or not), category (achievement, education, research contribution, research item, international member achievement, public service-global health, service to society), and training level. Out of 2,150 recipients for 78 awards, 1,606 (74.7%) were men and 544 (25.3%) were women. The proportion of women recipients increased from 0% in 1970 to 33.2% in 2020 (P < .001). Women representation varied within each society (P < .01), with ASCRS having the highest percentage (40.8%). Women received 11.0% of awards accompanied by a lecture. Women received a significantly greater proportion of research-related awards than achievement or service awards. Awards for trainees and early-career ophthalmologists had a greater proportion of women (39.8%) than the rest of the awards (21.5%) (P < .001). Overall, women received awards (25.3%) at a higher rate than the average 1970-2020 American gender distributions of ophthalmologists. However, women are still under-represented in many award categories and subspecialties.

Highlights

To assess the gender distribution of major ophthalmology society award recipients DESIGN: Retrospective, observational study METHODS: The study population included award recipients from 9 ophthalmologic societies: American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, American Glaucoma Society, American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, American Society of Retina Specialists, American Uveitis Society, Cornea Society, and North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society
Because there are no US neuroophthalmology or cornea societies, North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society (NANOS), a professional neuro-ophthalmology organization with American and Canadian members, and the Cornea Society, an international organization whose headquarters are in the United States, were included
Most awards were given by Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) (n = 584; 27.2%), followed by Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) (n = 460; 21.4%), ASOPRS (n = 345; 16.0%), American Glaucoma Society (AGS) (n = 336; 15.6%), NANOS (n = 201; 9.3%), American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS) (n = 96; 4.5%), Cornea Society (n = 73; 3.4%), ASCRS (n = 49; 2.3%), and American Uveitis Society (AUS) (n = 6; 0.3%)

Summary

METHODS

This observational study was exempted by the Stanford University IRB/Ethics Committee (eProtocol: 57659–IRB 7: Registration 5136). Χ 2 tests of independence were performed to determine if there were significant relationships between gender and factors related to award classification (award society, award type, award category, award level of training) as well as award recipient characteristics (country of affiliated institution: domestic/US or international, degrees). These tests were followed by post hoc pairwise testing with Bonferroni adjustment for comparisons of multiple groups (7 options for award category, 9 for award society, and 3 for award level of training).

RESULTS

Findings

DISCUSSION