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Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Representation Among Keynote and Plenary Speakers at Major US Surgical Conferences
Okeoghene O Ogaga1, Fabrice Z L Cheuyem2, Caroline A Rader3
1College of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee.
Introduction:
Despite decades of research and advocacy, gender, racial, and ethnic disparities in career advancement persist within academic surgery. This study analyzed the diversity and representation of keynote, plenary, and named lectureship speakers at major national surgical society annual meetings in the United States.
Methods:
We reviewed 266 annual meeting brochures from 21 national surgical societies (2000-2021) and identified all keynote, invited plenary, and named lectureship speakers. The gender, race, and ethnicity of speakers were determined from photos, pronouns used, and online search. Proportions of underrepresented minorities and women were compared using Fisher exact test, with statistical significance set at 0.05. Approval by the institutional review board was not necessary as the study analyzed publicly available data.
Results:
A total of 635 surgery lectureships from 2000 to 2021 were analyzed from 266 national meetings. The overwhelming majority of speakers were male (84.1%) even more during 2012-2017 (86.0%) when most presentations occurred. Female speakers were significantly underrepresented (14.0%, P < 0.001). Though the gender gap narrowed by 44% by 2021, 24% of societies featured zero female speakers. There were significant racial disparities, with White/Asian speakers comprising 91.5% versus 8.5% underrepresented in medicine. Black/African Americans represented only 5.0% speakers (n = 32), while Latinx/Hispanic representation was 3.5%, with no Latina speakers. Disparities varied across surgical societies. While the Western Surgical Association reached 60% female representation, 43% of societies lacked Black speakers entirely, and 62% lacked Latinx speakers. The majority of speakers were surgeons (80%), with 20% nonsurgeons.
Conclusions:
While there has been a slight improvement in gender diversity among keynote speakers at surgical conferences in recent years, Blacks/African Americans and Hispanics remain significantly underrepresented. These findings underscore the need for intentional efforts to promote diversity in conference speaker selection and leadership opportunities within academic surgery.
