A. L. Hoffman1, R. Ghoubrial1, P. Matemavi1, A. Langnas1, W. Grant1 1University Of Nebraska College Of Medicine,Surgery,Omaha, NE, USA
Introduction:
Discussions about gender representation in high profile positions at surgical conferences have been informal. The objective of our study is to examine trends at four large United States surgical conferences which represent a variety of surgical specialties.
Methods:
We retrospectively collected data from publicly accessible programs on moderators, invited speakers, abstract and poster presenters at the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO), American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA), and American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) between 2012-2017. Gender representation of society membership is not public record and was not available at our request.
Results:
In all four conferences over the 5-year period:
· 223 (21.9%) of 1,016 moderators were female.
· 1,294 (25.2%) of 5,119 invited speakers were female.
· 1,828 (27.1%) of 6,738 oral and abstract presenters were female.
The largest gender gap was observed at SAGES and ASTS for all categories whereas the APSA and SSO oral and poster presenters neared gender parity at the end of the review period.
During the review period, the percentage of female:
· moderators increased from 19.5% to 26.7%.
· invited speakers increased from 23.25% to 32.7%.
· abstract presenters increased from 17.8% to 27.3% and
· poster presenters increased 24.5% to 36.9%.
Conclusion:
Over the last five years, there has been an increased proportion of women in medical school and general surgery residency. Currently women make up 48.4% of medical students and 38.4% of surgery residents. The percentage of female representation at surgical meetings does not yet parallel trends in training. Though, shifts towards gender parity are seen in some areas, women are still under-represented in many aspects of surgical meetings.
