Gender Representation Among Invited Physician Speakers at National Emergency Medicine Conferences

This study aimed to assess gender representation among speakers invited to give presentations at the 2022 and 2023 annual meetings of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) and identify trends in the representation of women physician speakers.

A retrospective analysis was conducted using speaker gender demographics from the 2022 and 2023 ACEP, SAEM, and AAEM conferences. Data were collected from publicly available conference programs, online resources, or the genderize.io tool. Gender representation was evaluated using generalized estimating equations.

There were 2,133 physician speakers across all conferences during the 2-year period: 1,077 (50.5%) women, 1,045 (49.0%) men, and 11 (0.5%) nonbinary. There was no statistically significant difference in representation between men and women physician speakers (1.51%, 95% confidence interval -2.64 to 5.75). Gender representation remained stable between 2022 and 2023, with no significant conference-by-year interaction (P=.58).

The representation of women physicians among invited speakers at national emergency medicine conferences in 2022 and 2023 was approximately equal to that of men, contrasting with historical trends. Continued efforts to monitor gender representation at conferences are essential for maintaining and advancing this progress. Encouraging speakers to share preferred pronouns is one way organizations can hold themselves accountable in this regard.