WE6.10 Gender Balance at Surgical Meetings in Ireland

Abstract

Abstract Aim To assess the genders of lead authors and primary investigators in major surgical research meetings over a 10-year period in Ireland. Method We gathered data from the 3 main surgical conferences in Ireland. We looked at the abstracts of each of the plenary sessions over the last 10 year. We used the Irish Medical Council, previous published research from these authors and ResearchGate to help identify the gender of the author. We complied and analysed the data using Excel. Results We analysed 306 papers over the last 10 years. We found that the primary investigator was male in 78% of the papers and female in 20%. The primary author was male in 52% and was female in 46% of the papers. There has been little change over each 5-year interval for who was the primary investigator. In 2010–2015, it was 77% male and 23% female while from 2016–2020, it was 82% male and 18% female. Furthermore, in relation to the primary author, it has shifted from being relatively equal to becoming more male dominant. In 2010–2015, it was 52% female and 48% female while from 2016–2020, it was 57% male and 43% female. Conclusion The gender gap has appeared to have widened at the non-consultant hospital doctor level and it is very apparent that there is a large inequality at consultant level regarding surgical research in Ireland.