Gender distribution in speakers at emergency medicine conferences

Background: It has been documented that women are under-represented as speakers at emergency medicine conferences globally. This lack of opportunity is likely contributing to the gender gap of women in academic and leadership positions. Methods: The Gender-Specific Issues Special Interest Group (GSI-SIG) of the International Federation of Emergency Medicine (IFEM) has analyzed the gender distribution of invited speakers, plenary speakers, and organizing committees from its last three International Conferences on Emergency Medicine in 2016, 2018, and 2019. Results: Men comprised 75% (range 57-92%) of organizing committees, 69% (67-70%) of plenary speakers, and 78% (range 75-81%) of invited speakers. Conclusion: The percentage of women speakers at the IFEM International Conferences on Emergency Medicine is low; even below the percentage of women emergency medicine physicians. By understanding these data and their consequences, changes can be made to close this gender gap and create more equitable opportunities for women and their career advancement.

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Gender distribution in emergency medicine journals

European Journal of Emergency Medicine ◽

10.1097/mej.0000000000000842 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol Publish Ahead of Print ◽

Author(s):

Svenja Ravioli ◽

Adrienne Rupp ◽

Aristomenis K. Exadaktylos ◽

Gregor Lindner

Keyword(s):

Emergency Medicine ◽

Gender Distribution

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Peek at the glass ceiling: gender distribution of leadership among emergency medicine residency programs

Emergency Medicine Journal ◽

10.1136/emermed-2019-208951 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. emermed-2019-208951

Author(s):

Melissa Parsons ◽

Sara Krzyzaniak ◽

Alexandra Mannix ◽

Nicole Rocca ◽

Teresa M Chan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emergency Medicine ◽

Gender Gap ◽

Department Chair ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Female Leadership ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Gender Distribution ◽

Representation Of Women ◽

Role Modelling ◽

The Usa

BackgroundA gender gap in faculty rank at academic institutions exists; however, data among graduate medical education (GME) programmes are limited. There is a need to assess gender disparities in GME leadership, as a lack of female leadership may affect recruitment, role modelling and mentorship of female trainees. This cross-sectional study aimed to describe the current state of gender in programme leadership (department chair, programme director (PD), associate/assistant PD (APD) and clerkship director (CD)) at accredited Emergency Medicine (EM) programmes in the USA to determine whether a gender gap exists.MethodsA survey was distributed to EM residency programmes in the USA assessing demographics and gender distribution among programme leadership. If no response was received, information was collected via the programme’s website. Data were organised by position, region and length of the programme. We obtained data on the number of female EM physicians in practice and in training/fellowship in 2017 from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Data analysis was completed using descriptive statistics and χ2 analysis.ResultsOf the 226 programmes contacted, 148 responded to the survey (66.3%). Among US EM residency programmes, 11.2% of chairs, 34.6% of PDs, 40.5% of APDs and 46.5% of CDs are women. The percentage of female chairs is significantly lower than the percentage of women in practice or in training in EM. The percentage of female PDs did not differ from the percentage of women in practice or in training in EM. The percentage of female APDs and CDs was significantly higher than the percentage of women in practice but did not differ from the percentage in training. There was wide variability across regions. Four-year programmes had more women in PD and APD positions compared with 3-year programmes (p=0.01).ConclusionsWhile the representation of women in educational roles is encouraging, the number of women holding the rank of chairperson remains disproportionately low. Further studies are needed to evaluate reasons for this and strategies to increase gender equality in leadership roles.

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