Gender diversity in urology scientific meetings: an analysis of the last nine years

The importance of gender diversity is well recognized. Despite promising change in addressing gender disparity, there remains a significant gap in women's representation in urology. Worldwide, a lack of diversity has been observed at scientific meetings. This study analyses the trend in women's representation at the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Scientific Meeting (USANZ ASM) over the last nine years.

We retrospectively collected data from eight conference programs between 2014 and 2022, evaluating the trend in the proportion of women represented in various sections. A difference of proportions test was performed to determine whether a significant change was seen from year to year.

A significant increase in women's representation was observed, the most significant increase was evident in the last three years, chairpersons increased from 5.9% to 44.1% (P = 0.003), international speakers from 11.7% to 39.1% (P ≤ 0.001), expert speakers from 19.1% to 42.0% (P = 0.002), and total speakers from 19.5% to 34.7% (P ≤ 0.001).

Our study shows that a significant increase in the representation of women at the USANZ ASM has been achieved over the last three years. Unfortunately, this increase in representation has not been mirrored in the number of women trainees and training applicants. Additionally, this increase in representation well exceeds the proportion of women who are USANZ members, and is unevenly distributed across topics. A positive change has been observed, the challenge remains in dealing with unconscious bias and balancing the fine line between inclusivity and tokenism.