The Speaker Gender Gap at Critical Care Conferences

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Critical Care Medicine
• Gender Studies in Medicine

Background:

• Women remain underrepresented in academic medicine and leadership positions.
• Critical care conferences are key platforms for knowledge dissemination and professional networking.
• Understanding faculty gender representation is crucial for promoting equity in critical care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the participation of women as faculty speakers at major critical care conferences over a seven-year period.
• To identify trends in gender representation among speakers and program committee members.
• To highlight disparities in representation between physicians and allied health professionals.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of speaker and program committee data from five critical care conferences (2010-2016).
• Inclusion of three international and two national critical care conferences.
• Data collection through conference programs, convener information, and internet research.

Main Results:

• Male speakers consistently outnumbered female speakers across all conferences and years (5-31% female representation).
• The gender gap was more pronounced among physician speakers compared to nursing and allied health professionals.
• Women's representation on program committees varied (0-40%), with some conferences showing significant temporal increases.

Conclusions:

• A persistent gender gap exists in critical care conference faculty, particularly among physicians.
• While allied health professions show higher female representation, physician parity is lacking.
• Organizational strategies are recommended to address and mitigate this gender disparity in critical care faculty participation.