Faculty and Staff Publications
Publication Date
1-30-2022
Journal
Digestive Diseases and Sciences
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Over the last few decades, advances have been made regarding gender equality starting from medical students to trainees, to leadership in academics. The female representation in specialty academic conferences not only reflects the existing gender disparities in that specialty but also can influence young female trainees to join that field. Digestive Disease Week (DDW) is the premier digestive disease event. We aimed to calculate the proportion of female representation among speakers and moderators at the DDW meetings held from 2018 to 2020.
METHODS: The data for DDW 2018-2020 were collected via the online web-based planner. The gender of speakers of presentations and moderators of sessions were identified by a google search. We further categorized the data by each participating society (AGA, ASGE, AASLD, and SSAT), by presentation track, by session track, and total overall representation in each year.
RESULTS: Despite the subject of the gender gap being in focus, the proportion of female moderators and speakers was low in DDW in the last 3 years. The female speakers constituted 31.6% in 2018, 33.8% in 2019 and 34.6% in 2020. There was slightly improved female representation in sessions of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Stomach, and Small Bowel Disorders, Microbiome in GI & Liver disease, and Basic Science over the last 3 years.
CONCLUSION: Based on our study and those referenced in this article, we believe that strategies to promote the inclusivity of female moderators and speakers at DDW provide a huge opportunity to influence gender equity within GI.
Keywords
Congresses as Topic, Digestive System Diseases, Gastroenterology, Humans, Physicians, Women, Societies, Medical, Gender disparity, Speaker, Conferences
Included in
Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Commons, Digestive System Diseases Commons, Gastroenterology Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Hepatology Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Internal Medicine Commons, Medical Sciences Commons, Mental and Social Health Commons
Comments
PMID: 35094252