Women's visibility in academic seminars: Women ask fewer questions than men

Gender and ethnicity intersect to reduce participation at a large European hybrid HIV conference

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate how gender and ethnicity of panel members intersect to effect audience participation at a large European hybrid conference.

DESIGN

An observational cross-sectional study design was used to collect data at the conference and descriptive survey was used to collect data retrospectively from the participants.

SETTING

European AIDS Clinical Society 18th Conference; a 3223-delegate, hybrid conference held online and in London over 4 days in October 2021.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

We observed the number and type of questions asked at 12 of 69 sessions and described characteristics of the panel composition by ethnicity, gender and seniority. A postconference survey of conference attendees collated demographic information, number of questions asked during the conference and the reasons for not asking questions.

RESULTS

Men asked the most questions and were more likely to ask multiple questions in the observed sessions (61.5%). People from white ethnic groups asked >95% of the questions in the observed sessions. The fewest questions were asked in the sessions with the least diverse panels in terms of both ethnicity and gender. Barriers to asking questions differed between genders and ethnicities.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study aims to provide evidence to help conference organisers improve leadership, equality, diversity and inclusion in the professional medical conference setting. This will support equitable dissemination of knowledge and improve education and engagement of delegates. To our knowledge, this is the first study describing conference participation by both ethnicity and gender in panellists and delegates within a hybrid conference setting.

Role of Sex in Participation During Virtual Grand Rounds in Ophthalmology

Importance

Sex disparities exist in academia. Female attendees consistently ask fewer questions in scientific meetings than male attendees, even when they constitute half of the audience.

Objective

To assess the role of sex in participation during virtual grand rounds (GR) at a major academic center.

Design, Setting, and Participants

In this prospective cohort study, attendees of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of California, San Francisco, GR from April 2020 to April 2021 were included. All GR were held via a synchronous live video communication platform. During each GR session, a predesignated attendee collected the sex of all attendees, sex of the GR speaker, and sex of each individual who asked a question to the GR speaker in order of inquiry. The GR speakers and audience were unaware of the study. Data were analyzed from June 2021 to April 2023.

Main Outcome and Measures

The main analysis assessed the association between being female and asking one of the first 3 questions.

Results

A total of 31 virtual ophthalmology GR sessions were observed. The sex of the GR speaker was female in 13 of 31 sessions (42%). The mean (SD) percentage of audience sex at each of the GR sessions was 47% (0.05) female, 45% (0.06) male, and 8% (0.03) unknown. Male attendees were more likely to ask one of the first 3 questions compared with female attendees (prevalence ratio, 3.1; 95% CI, 2.1-4.5; P < .001).

Conclusions and Relevance

Male attendees were more likely to ask questions during virtual ophthalmology GR compared with female attendees at an academic medical center. Strategies to encourage equal participation of sex in academic discourse should be encouraged.

Perceived gender and political persuasion: a social media field experiment during the 2020 US Democratic presidential primary election

Women have less influence than men in a variety of settings. Does this result from stereotypes that depict women as less capable, or biased interpretations of gender differences in behavior? We present a field experiment that-unbeknownst to the participants-randomized the gender of avatars assigned to Democrats using a social media platform we created to facilitate discussion about the 2020 Primary Election. We find that misrepresenting a man as a woman undermines his influence, but misrepresenting a woman as a man does not increase hers. We demonstrate that men's higher resistance to being influenced-and gendered word use patterns-both contribute to this outcome. These findings challenge prevailing wisdom that women simply need to behave more like men to overcome gender discrimination and suggest that narrowing the gap will require simultaneous attention to the behavior of people who identify as women and as men.

Gender-based disparities and biases in science: An observational study of a virtual conference

Success in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) remains influenced by race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Here, we focus on the impact of gender on question-asking behavior during the 2021 JOBIM virtual conference (Journées Ouvertes en Biologie et Mathématiques). We gathered quantitative and qualitative data including : demographic information, question asking motivations, live observations and interviews of participants. Quantitative analyses include unprecedented figures such as the fraction of the audience identifying as LGBTQIA+ and an increased attendance of women in virtual conferences. Although parity was reached in the audience, women asked half as many questions as men. This under-representation persisted after accounting for seniority of the asker. Interviews of participants highlighted several barriers to oral expression encountered by women and gender minorities : negative reactions to their speech, discouragement to pursue a career in research, and gender discrimination/sexual harassment. Informed by the study, guidelines for conference organizers have been written. The story behind the making of this study has been highlighted in a Nature Career article.

University student-teachers' diversity and attitudes toward classroom participation

This study examined student-teachers' diversity and attitudes toward classroom participation in a Tanzanian university. A mixed research approach was used to answer three research questions: student-teachers' attitudes toward classroom participation, attitude differences based on their diversity, and the reasons for their attitudes toward classroom participation. The study involved 701 student-teachers in their second and third years of study. Data were collected through questionnaires and focus group discussions and were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science and MAXQDA software. Results indicated that student-teachers cooperated with colleagues in groups rather than the whole classroom. The results also indicated diversity in classroom participation by gender, programme, and year of study. Further, it was revealed that student-teachers' attitudes toward classroom participation were based on prior experiences, cultural aspects, linguistic barriers, lecturer pedagogical practices, and teaching context. It is concluded that the student-teachers' attitudes toward classroom participation were variably associated with their diversity, and the reasons for the attitudes were mediated internally and externally. Therefore, it is recommended that lectures be conducted by employing apt techniques for fostering active participation to enrich the classroom with student-teachers and lecturers' voices in knowledge construction and sharing. The techniques should be gender, programme, and year of study sensitive while integrating students-teachers' internal and external mediating factors to create interactive classroom moments that encourage knowledge creation and sharing among the classroom members.

Gender representation at scientific congresses: focus on functional and female urology-a study from the EAU Young Academic Urologist Functional Urology Group

PURPOSE

Female representation at scientific conferences is crucial for encouraging women pursuing an academic career. Nevertheless, gender inequity at urological conferences is common place and women are often stereotyped choosing functional urology. However, there is no evidence whether female representation is higher in functional urology. This investigations aims to analyze gender representation at functional urology sessions.

METHODS

National and international urological congresses between 2019 and 2021 with a focus on functional urology and female urology sessions were evaluated. Congresses were categorized as national or international. Session type, topic, gender of chairs and speakers of the identified sessions were recorded. In addition, affiliation and medical specialty were collected for chairs.

RESULTS

A total of 29 congresses were evaluated. Out of a total of 2893 chairs and speakers, 1034 (35.7%) were women and 1839 (63.6%) were men. This represents an overall gender gap of 27.9% for functional urology sessions. No significant differences in gender representation between national and international congresses could be identified (p = 0.076). When considering gender distribution of chairs, the gap was more pronounced by 35.5%. Furthermore, men were more likely to be invited to be a speaker in plenary and podiums sessions.

CONCLUSIONS

Gender inequality is present in functional urology sessions. There is a need for greater efforts to achieve gender equality. An important step to remedy the situation is the inclusion of women in scientific program committees. Furthermore, support by the leadership of urological societies and academic departments is essential to herald a lasting change in gender inequality.

Representation of Female Speakers at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meetings Over Time

BACKGROUND

In the United States, women comprise 16% of orthopaedic surgery residents, 4% of fellows, and 6% of practicing orthopaedic surgeons. The underrepresentation of women in surgical subspecialties may be because of lack of early exposure to female mentors. Conference speaker roles are important for visibility. This study aims to evaluate the representation of women in speaker roles and responsibilities at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) meetings over time.

METHODS

The names of speakers and session titles at the annual AAOS meetings were obtained from conference programs for the years 2009, 2014, and 2019. Each speaker was classified based on sex and role. Sessions discussing scientific or surgical topics were classified as technical and those that did not were classified as nontechnical. Descriptive statistics are provided, as well as individual-year odds ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CIs) examining sex versus technical session status and sex versus speaker role; combined results controlling for year are calculated using the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel method.

RESULTS

Overall, 3,980 speaking sessions were analyzed; 6.8% of speaking sessions were assigned to women. Women were more likely than men to participate in nontechnical speaking roles (OR 3.85; 95% CI, 2.79 to 4.78). Among talks given by women, the percentage that were nontechnical increased (25.5% in 2009, 24.3% in 2014, and 44.1% in 2019). Among moderator roles, the percentage assigned to women increased (4.5% in 2009, 6.0% in 2014, 14.5% in 2019).

DISCUSSION

Our findings demonstrate an increase in female speakers at AAOS meetings from 2009 to 2019. The percentage of female moderators and nontechnical sessions given by women increased since 2009. A need for a shift in the distribution of speaker role exists, which promotes inclusivity and prevents professional marginalization. Representation of women as role models increases visibility and may address the leaky pipeline phenomenon and paucity of women in orthopaedics.

Gender Disparity in Pediatric Surgery: An Evaluation of Pediatric Surgery Conference Participation

BACKGROUND

Leadership in academic conferences is an important factor for academic advancement. Underrepresentation of women in academic surgical conferences has been demonstrated in other subspecialties, but it has not been well-studied in pediatric surgery.

METHODS

This retrospective descriptive study analyzes conference participation at 2 national pediatric surgery annual conference programs from 2003 to 2022. Moderator, speakers, and research presenter sex was collected. The primary outcome was the proportion of female participants in each of these roles. Mann-Kendall trend test was conducted to assess for significance.

RESULTS

Across 29 meetings, a total of 523 sessions were examined. Overall, female participation in all roles increased from 2003 to 2022. There were statistically positive trends of female participation in leadership roles as moderator (p = 0.003) and speaker (p = 0.01), with moderator role demonstrating the largest proportional female increase over time - with a 7-fold increase from 7.1% in 2003 to 50.0% in 2022. There was also a significant increasing trend in female participation as research presenters (p < 0.01) from 25.4% to 46.4%.

CONCLUSION

Gender representation in pediatric surgery conferences has improved over the last two decades. Women now represent approximately half of all participatory roles, and efforts to continue providing equal opportunities for women at pediatric surgery academic conferences should continue.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

N/A.

TYPE OF STUDY

Retrospective Descriptive.

Gender Inclusion and Fit in STEM

Despite progress made toward increasing women's interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), women continue to be underrepresented and experience less equity and inclusion in some STEM fields. In this article, I review the psychological literature relevant to understanding and mitigating women's lower fit and inclusion in STEM. Person-level explanations concerning women's abilities, interests, and self-efficacy are insufficient for explaining these persistent gaps. Rather, women's relatively lower interest in male-dominated STEM careers such as computer science and engineering is likely to be constrained by gender stereotypes. These gender stereotypes erode women's ability to experience self-concept fit, goal fit, and/or social fit. Such effects occur independently of intentional interpersonal biases and discrimination, and yet they create systemic barriers to women's attraction to, integration in, and advancement in STEM. Dismantling these systemic barriers requires a multifaceted approach to changing organizational and educational cultures at the institutional, interpersonal, and individual level.

Navigating the leaky pipeline: Do stereotypes about parents predict career outcomes in academia?

The motherhood penalty seemingly reflects a preference to hire female professionals who are not parents compared to mothers, however, little is known about whether this effect is attributable to parent stereotypes per se. Study 1 assessed the content of the parent-academia stereotypes of 180 individuals working in Education and revealed stronger stereotypical associations of fathers with academia than mothers. Study 2 investigated what parent-academia stereotypes predict in terms of endorsements for hiring men versus women in a mock hiring task set in an academic context. Academics (N = 112) evaluated mock job candidates for an Assistant Professor post while the gender, parental status and leave status of the candidates were manipulated. The findings showed that parents were significantly less likely to be endorsed to be hired than non-parents, regardless of gender. Parent-academia stereotypes led to biased hiring recommendations, such that a greater endorsement of parent-academia stereotypes predicted a reduced likelihood to endorse hiring parents compared to non-parents. Implications for reducing parent stereotypes in academic contexts are discussed.

Stepping Up to the Mic: Gender Gaps in Participation in Live Question-and-Answer Sessions at Academic Conferences

Question-and-answer (Q&A) sessions following research talks provide key opportunities for the audience to engage in scientific discourse. Gender inequities persist in academia, where women are underrepresented as faculty and their contributions are less valued than men's. In the present research, we tested how this gender difference translates to face-to-face Q&A-session participation and its psychological correlates. Across two studies examining participation in three conferences, men disproportionately participated in Q&A sessions in a live, recorded conference (N = 189 Q&A interactions), and women were less comfortable participating in Q&A sessions and more likely to fear backlash for their participation (N = 234 conference attendees). Additionally, women were more likely to hold back questions because of anxiety, whereas men were more likely to hold back questions to make space for others to participate. To the extent that men engage more than women in Q&A sessions, men may continue to have more influence over the direction of science.

Disparate participation by gender of conference attendants in scientific discussions

One important metric of a radiologist’s visibility and influence is their ability to participate in discussion within their community. The goal of our study was to compare the participation level of men and women in scientific discussions at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Eleven volunteers collected participation data by gender in 59 sessions (286 presentations) at the 2018 RSNA meeting. Data was analyzed using a combination of Chi-squared, paired Wilcoxon signed-rank and T-test. Of all RSNA professional attendees at the RSNA, 68% were men and 32% were women. Of the 2869 presentations listed in the program, 65% were presented by men and 35% were presented by women. Of the 286 presentations in our sample, 177 (61.8%) were presented by men and 109 (38.1%) were presented by women. Of these 286 presentations, 81 (63%) were moderated by men and 47 (37%) were moderated by women. From the audience, 190 male attendees participated in 134 question-and-answer (Q&A) sessions following presentations and 58 female attendees participated in 52 Q&A sessions (P<0.001). Female attendees who did participate in Q&A sessions talked for a significantly shorter period of time (mean 7.14 ± 17.7 seconds, median 0) compared to male attendees (28.7 ± 29.6 seconds, median 16; P<0.001). Overall, our findings demonstrate that women participated less than men in the Q&A sessions at RSNA 2018, and talked for a shorter period of time. The fact that women were outnumbered among their male peers may explain the difference in behavior by gender.

Gender gap at a large European urological congress: still at the beginning

PURPOSE

Women are underrepresented at scientific conferences, decreasing the visibility of female role models, which are vital for aspiring young female scientists. This investigation aimed to evaluate female representation at the German Society of Urology's (GSoU) annual meeting.

METHODS

The programs of the GSoU meeting of 2011, 2018, 2019 and the virtual conference in 2020 were retrospectively quantified by gender and categorized by chair or speaker, type, and topic of the session. Descriptive analysis was applied. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify gender inequity and variables influencing gender distribution. A p value of < 0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS

A total of 2.504 chairs and speakers were invited to the GSoU meeting in 2018 and 2019. Female speakers or chairs were represented in 17.8%, indicating a gender gap of 64.7%. There were significant differences between session type, topic, and gender distribution for chairs and speakers. The topic surgical techniques were independent variables for both, underrepresented female chairs and speakers, respectively (p < 0.001). Vocational policy and plenary session were not represented by any female chair in 2011, 2018, and 2019. In comparison, the gender gap in 2011 was 74.2%, indicating a gap reduction of 1.2% per year. In a selected virtual program in 2020, the gender gap increased to 70.4%.

CONCLUSION

There is still a significant discrepancy between gender representation at the GSoU annual meetings, and gender equity is currently not expected before 50 years. Future efforts should address the implementation of established guidelines for achieving gender equity at urological conferences.

Towards women-inclusive ecology: Representation, behavior, and perception of women at an international conference

Conferences are ideal platforms for studying gender gaps in science because they are important cultural events that reflect barriers to women in academia. Here, we explored women’s participation in ecology conferences by analyzing female representation, behavior, and personal experience at the 1st Meeting of the Iberian Society of Ecology (SIBECOL). The conference had 722 attendees, 576 contributions, and 27 scientific sessions. The gender of attendees and presenters was balanced (48/52% women/men), yet only 29% of the contributions had a woman as last author. Moreover, men presented most of the keynote talks (67%) and convened most of the sessions. Our results also showed that only 32% of the questions were asked by women, yet the number of questions raised by women increased when the speaker or the convener was a woman. Finally, the post-conference survey revealed that attendees had a good experience and did not perceive the event as a threatening context for women. Yet, differences in the responses between genders suggest that women tended to have a worse experience than their male counterparts. Although our results showed clear gender biases, most of the participants of the conference failed to detect it. Overall, we highlight the challenge of increasing women’s scientific leadership, visibility and interaction in scientific conferences and we suggest several recommendations for creating inclusive meetings, thereby promoting equal opportunities for all participants.

Acknowledging and overcoming barriers to entry into radiation science for women

PURPOSE

Radiation science is a unique field that brings together various disciplines to understand nature, develop new technologies, and cure diseases. Our field is a prime example of advancement through a diverse pool of competencies. Similarly, studies show that the power of diversity requires proportionate representation of sex and gender, minorities, or other groups. Nevertheless, women are still underrepresented in the radiation sciences, although disparities and underlying mechanisms were first described decades ago. This review summarizes barriers to entry and retention and suggests strategies for overcoming disparities in our field. We also highlight a concerted effort by young professionals to promote the underrepresented and underserved within the radiation science community.

CONCLUSION

The radiation science community should avoid losing diverse perspectives among its ranks due to sex bias or gender disparity among others. Through targeted efforts, we can cultivate change and harness the talent of researchers, practitioners, and other professionals for the benefit of scientific progress, health-care improvement, and societal advancement overall.

Gender bias in academia: A lifetime problem that needs solutions

Despite increased awareness of the lack of gender equity in academia and a growing number of initiatives to address issues of diversity, change is slow, and inequalities remain. A major source of inequity is gender bias, which has a substantial negative impact on the careers, work-life balance, and mental health of underrepresented groups in science. Here, we argue that gender bias is not a single problem but manifests as a collection of distinct issues that impact researchers' lives. We disentangle these facets and propose concrete solutions that can be adopted by individuals, academic institutions, and society.

Gender differences in question-asking at the 2019 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting

Attendance at professional conferences is an important component of career development, because conferences are a major forum for presenting new research, interacting with colleagues and networking. An extensive literature documents differences in the professional experiences of women and men, including experiences at professional conferences. We hypothesized that women are less likely than men to ask questions at conferences, thus forgoing opportunities for professional development. To address this issue, we analyzed the question-asking behavior of women and men at the 2019 Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology. In all, 112 sessions (55% of those eligible) were randomly chosen for coding, yielding data on 577 presentations. Although approximately 50% of moderators and speakers were women, the proportion of questions asked by women was significantly lower compared with the estimated proportion of women attending the conference (23% vs 39%; P < .0001). Women were more likely to ask questions if another woman asked the first question or if the session topic was red cells. These results suggest that although women are represented equally as moderators and speakers, they are less likely to engage in the postpresentation discourse by asking questions. Encouraging women to speak up in professional situations and providing training on question-asking skills can help address this gender gap that potentially contributes to disparities in professional visibility and career advancement for women in hematology.

Moving academic conferences online: Understanding patterns of delegate engagement

Scientific conferences are a key component of academic communication and development. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person conferences are rapidly moving online, yet these virtual events may not provide the same opportunities as in-person conferences. If virtual meetings are to continue to provide effective communication and networking between researchers and stakeholders, they must be adapted to increase delegate engagement and enthusiasm. Here, we present a case study of a recent medium-sized online conference. We assessed the behavior and engagement of delegates with different components of the meeting using data from website analytics and postconference surveys. Behavior was variable across the available events; talks were particularly popular but engagement with social and networking opportunities was variable. Our conclusions have been summarized in six recommendations to support future online conference organizers in enhancing engagement with their events.

Equal Performance, Different Grade: Women's Performance in Discussion Perceived Worse Than Men's

We investigate how men and women are evaluated in group discussions. In five studies (N = 761) using a variant of a Hidden Profile Task, we find that, when experimentally and/or statistically controlling for actual gender differences in behavior, the female performance in a group discussion is devalued in comparison to male performance. This was observed for fellow group members (Study 1) and outside observers (Studies 2-5), in both primarily student (Studies 1, 4, and 5) and mixed samples (Studies 2 and 3), for different measures of performance (perceived helpfulness of the contribution, for work-related competence), across different discussion formats (preformulated chat messages, open chat), and when controlling for the number of female group members (Study 5). In contrast to our hypothesis, we did not find a moderating effect of selection procedure in that women were devalued to a similar degree in both situations with a women's quota and without.

Women and Minorities Encouraged to Apply (Not Stay)

The Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has deepened gender and racial diversity problems in academia. Mentorship shows women and other under-represented groups where the ladders to success are, and helps them avoid the chutes, a revised leaky pipeline metaphor. Here, we identify tangible strategies that will improve gender equity, including increasing active mentorship by male academics.

Reconsidering the Share of a Think-Pair-Share: Emerging Limitations, Alternatives, and Opportunities for Research

The think-pair-share is a common teaching tool, but how critical is the "share" step in helping students achieve learning goals? This feature examines assumptions that instructors may make about the share, explores unanticipated impacts of the share, and provides alternatives to having students share their thoughts in front of the class.

Reconsidering the Share of a Think-Pair-Share: Emerging Limitations, Alternatives, and Opportunities for Research

The think-pair-share is a common teaching tool, but how critical is the "share" step in helping students achieve learning goals? This feature examines assumptions that instructors may make about the share, explores unanticipated impacts of the share, and provides alternatives to having students share their thoughts in front of the class.

Gender Differences in Student Comfort Voluntarily Asking and Answering Questions in Large-Enrollment College Science Courses

Allowing students to ask and answer questions is a common practice employed by college science instructors. However, recent literature has identified that women participate in whole-class discussions less often than men. One hypothesized reason for this gender gap is that women may be less comfortable participating. However, no studies have examined students' comfort with asking and answering questions in large-enrollment science courses, identified what about these practices might make students uncomfortable, or explored whether there are gender differences with regard to student comfort. To answer these questions, we surveyed 417 undergraduates at an R1 institution about their experiences asking and answering questions in large-enrollment college science courses. Students answered questions about the extent to which they felt comfortable both asking and answering questions and selected possible factors that could make them uncomfortable participating. Using binary logistic regression, we tested whether student demographics predicted their opinions about these practices. Over half of students reported feeling uncomfortable both asking and answering questions in front of college science classes, and women were significantly less comfortable than men both asking and answering questions. Furthermore, we identified student confidence regarding their knowledge of the material and a concern that other students would judge them as some of the primary factors that could cause students to feel uncomfortable asking and answering questions in front of the whole class. This work highlights factors that instructors can target in hopes of maximizing student comfort participating in large-enrollment college science courses.

Closing the gender gap at academic conferences: A tool for monitoring and assessing academic events

The importance of participation in academic conferences is well known for members of the scientific community. It is not only for the feedback and the improvement of the work, it is also about career development, building networks and increasing visibility. Nevertheless, women continue to be under-represented in these academic events and even more so in the most visible positions such as speaking roles. This paper presents the development of a tool based on performance indicators, which will allow monitoring and evaluating gender roles and inequalities in academic conferences in order to tackle the underrepresentation of women. The study identifies relevant perspectives (participation, organizational structure and attitudes) and designs specific lists of performance indicators for each of them. The tool is based on a combination of two multicriteria techniques, Analytic Hierarchy Process and Analytic Hierarchy Process Sort, and a qualitative analysis based on in-depth interviews and information gathered from a focus group. The use of the AHP multi-criteria decision technique has allowed us to weight the indicators according to the opinion of several experts, and with them to be able to generate from these weightings composite indicators for each of the three dimensions. The most relevant indicators were for the participation dimension. Additionally, the tool developed has been applied to an academic conference which has been monitored in real time. The results are shown as a traffic light visualization approach, where red means bad performance, yellow average performance and green good performance, helping us to present the results for each indicator. Finally, proposals for improvement actions addressed to the red indicators are explained. The work carried out highlights the need to broaden the study of gender equality in academic conferences, not only regarding the participation but also the performance of different roles and functions.

The Leaky Pipeline of Women in Plastic Surgery: Embracing Diversity to Close the Gender Disparity Gap

The Balance for Better campaign theme of the 2019 International Women's Day prompted a closer look at diversity within the plastic surgery specialty. Gender balance in the United States has improved through many organizational efforts and enactment of laws. Unfortunately, despite these endeavors, statistics show that men still enjoy greater financial and career success. Within the field of medicine, a similar trend has been observed. Although women constitute 50% of medical school graduates, the majority still enter fields outside of surgical subspecialties. In comparison to other surgical subspecialties, women are most represented in plastic surgery. Unfortunately, significant gender discrepancies remain in postgraduate practice including academic practice rank, societal board membership, invited speaker opportunities, and compensation, to name a few. The "leaky pipeline" of women describes the precipitous decline in the numbers of women at each step up the professional ladder. We explore the multifaceted nature of this phenomenon and highlight factors that contribute to limiting female growth within the plastic surgery profession. We also emphasize the continued growth of female plastic surgeon presence in all sectors despite these existing obstacles. We submit that continued leadership, mentorship, and sponsorship provided by both male and female physicians in the field will facilitate future leadership, advance gender parity, and cultivate a sense of belonging within the plastic surgery community, allowing brilliant minds to flourish and the profession to thrive.

The Future of Women in Psychological Science

There has been extensive discussion about gender gaps in representation and career advancement in the sciences. However, psychological science itself has yet to be the focus of discussion or systematic review, despite our field's investment in questions of equity, status, well-being, gender bias, and gender disparities. In the present article, we consider 10 topics relevant for women's career advancement in psychological science. We focus on issues that have been the subject of empirical study, discuss relevant evidence within and outside of psychological science, and draw on established psychological theory and social-science research to begin to chart a path forward. We hope that better understanding of these issues within the field will shed light on areas of existing gender gaps in the discipline and areas where positive change has happened, and spark conversation within our field about how to create lasting change to mitigate remaining gender differences in psychological science.

Female In-Class Participation and Performance Increase with More Female Peers and/or a Female Instructor in Life Sciences Courses

As we strive to make science education more inclusive, more research is needed to fully understand gender gaps in academic performance and in-class participation in the life sciences. Studies suggest that male voices dominate introductory biology courses, but no studies have been done on upper-level courses. Results on achievement gender gaps in biology vary and often conflict, and no studies have been done on the correlation between participation and academic performance gaps. We observed 34 life sciences courses at all levels at a large private university. Overall, males were more likely to participate than their female peers, but these gender gaps varied from class to class. Females participated more in classes in which the instructor called on most hands that were raised or in classes with more females in attendance. Performance gender gaps also varied by classroom, but female final course grades were as much as 0.2 SD higher in classes with a female instructor and/or a female student majority. Gender gaps in participation and final course grades were positively correlated, but this could be solely because female students are more likely to both participate more and earn higher grades in classes with many females in attendance.

Gender Differences in Student Participation in an Active-Learning Classroom

Overwhelming evidence demonstrating the benefits of active-learning pedagogy has led to a shift in teaching that requires students to interact more in the classroom. To date, few studies have assessed whether there are gender-specific differences in participation in active-learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, and fewer have looked across different types of classroom participation. Over two semesters, we observed an introductory biology course at a large research-intensive university and categorized student participation into seven distinct categories to identify gender gaps in participation. Additionally, we collected student grades and administered a postcourse survey that gauged student scientific self-efficacy and salience of gender identity. We found that men participated more than expected based on the class composition in most participation categories. In particular, men were strongly overrepresented in voluntary responses after small-group discussions across both semesters. Women in the course reported lower scientific self-efficacy and greater salience of gender identity. Our results suggest that active learning in itself is not a panacea for STEM equity; rather, to maximize the benefits of active-learning pedagogy, instructors should make a concerted effort to use teaching strategies that are inclusive and encourage equitable participation by all students.

Gender Can Influence Student Experiences in MD-PhD Training

Background: Female physician-scientists have led major advances in medicine broadly and particularly in women's health. Women remain underrepresented in dual MD-PhD degree programs that train many physician-scientists despite gender parity among medical and biomedical research students. Materials and Methods: To explore how the training environment might be experienced differently for male and female students in one MD-PhD program, the authors analyzed gender differences in annual symposium speakers with exact binomial tests, student participation as question-askers at a weekly seminar with logistic regression, and number of publications with quasi-Poisson generalized linear models. They compared male and female students' perceptions of gender-based discrimination using a survey, including qualitative analysis of free text responses. The program consisted of 71 total students in the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic years. Female students comprised 42.0% (81/191) of program matriculants from 1997 to 2019. Results: Male and female students were equally likely to present at the annual program symposium, but faculty (p = 0.001) and keynote (p = 0.012) presenters were more likely to be male. Compared with male counterparts, female students asked fewer seminar questions (p < 0.005) and female speakers received more questions (p = 0.03). Female students perceived less support and differed from men in reasons for asking or not asking seminar questions. Free text responses described repeated small acts of discrimination toward women with cumulative impact. Positive program changes followed presentation of findings to program leaders and students. Conclusions: The authors identified several aspects of one MD-PhD program that could discourage career or training persistence of female students. Increasing awareness of these issues was temporally related to positive programmatic changes.

Empowering Women: Moving from Awareness to Action at the Immunology of Fungal Infections Gordon Research Conference

Despite the high prevalence of women in graduate degree programs and equal or more women earning PhDs, MDs, and MD/PhDs, and despite efforts at individual and institutional levels to promote women in STEM fields, there remains a disparity in pay and academic advancement of women. Likewise, there is a paucity of women in top scientific and academic leadership positions. The causes of this gender disparity are complex and multi-factorial and to date no "magic bullet" approach has been successful in changing the landscape for women in academic and scientific fields. In this report we detail our experiences with a novel mechanism for promoting discussion and raising awareness of the challenges of gender disparity in the sciences. The Gordon Research Conferences (GRC) launched the Power Hour at its meetings in 2016: a dedicated, scheduled session held during the scientific meeting to facilitate discussion of challenges specific to women in science. Here we share our experience with hosting the second Power Hour at the 2019 GRC Immunology of Fungal Infections (IFI) meeting held in Galveston, TX. We will discuss the overall structure, key discussion points, and feedback from participants with the aim of supporting future efforts to empower women and underrepresented minority groups in science.

Public Discussion Affects Question Asking at Academic Conferences

Women are under-represented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Despite the recent emphasis on diversity in STEM, our understanding of what drives differences between women and men scientists remains limited. This, in turn, limits our ability to intervene to level the playing field. To quantify the representation and participation of women and men at academic meetings in human genetics, we developed high-throughput and crowd-sourced approaches focused on question-asking behavior. Question asking is one voluntary and self-initiated scientific activity we can measure. Here we report that women ask fewer questions than expected regardless of their representation in talk audiences. We present evidence that external barriers affect the representation of women in STEM. However, differences in question-asking behavior suggest that internal factors also impact women's participation. We then examine the effects of specific interventions and show that wide public discussion of the relative under-participation of women in question-and-answer sessions alters question-asking behavior. We suggest that engaging the community in such projects promotes visibility of diversity issues at academic meetings and allows for efficient data collection that can be used to further explore and understand differences in conference participation.

Reducing gender bias in surgery

Needs positive action