Gender representation among invited speakers in major international prosthodontic conferences: A 15-year...

Although women constitute an increasing share of the global dental workforce, they remain underrepresented in high-visibility academic roles such as invited speakers at major prosthodontic conferences.

The purpose of this observational study was to investigate temporal and organizational trends in gender representation among invited speakers across 6 major prosthodontic conferences between 2010 and 2024.

The study was conducted by retrospectively reviewing 55 conference programs from 6 international prosthodontic organizations. Gender was determined through program data and online verification. Descriptive analyses were followed by a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) using a binomial distribution and logit link to evaluate the effects of year, organization, and their interaction on female speaker representation (α=.05).

Among 1177 invited speakers, only 16.5% were women. Descriptive trends showed no consistent increase over time. The GLMM revealed a significant decline in the odds of female speaker inclusion over the 15-year period (β=-0.158, P=.005). While overall disparities persisted, interaction effects indicated increasing female representation in the European Prosthodontic Association (β=+0.220, P=.030) and Academy of Prosthodontics (β=+0.139, P=.037).

Gender imbalance in academic visibility remains entrenched in prosthodontics. Although localized gains were observed, no organization consistently approached above 30% female participation. Structural inequities persist, and progress toward gender parity remains limited.