Female Representation: Australian Diabetes and Endocrinology Societies

Women’s visibility at European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism congresses from 2011 to 2019: Is the floor yours?

Purpose

Participating in international conferences is an essential way to promote scholarly work. We aimed to assess the trend of women’s visibility at the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) congress by describing the evolution of the proportion of women speakers between 2011 and 2019.

Materials and methods

This is a retrospective study including public data obtained from the 2011, 2015, and 2019 ESPEN congresses. The primary endpoint was the percentage of women speakers in major oral sessions (oral communications and specific conferences including prestigious lectures). The secondary endpoints were the proportion of women in other high-visibility positions (moderators, industry-led symposia interventions) and countries of origin.

Results

The proportion of women speakers in oral communications remained stable between 2011 and 2019 [43% (43/100) vs. 41% (46/111), respectively; p = 0.89]. The proportion of women moderators in oral communications sessions significantly increased between 2011 and 2019 [13% (6/45) vs. 41% (19/46), respectively; p = 0.004]. The percentage of women speakers and moderators in industry-led symposia significantly increased between 2011 and 2019 [11% (2/18) vs. 41% (11/27), p = 0.05; 0% (0/6) vs. 60% (6/10), p = 0.03, respectively]. The percentage of women moderators in educational sessions also remained stable during the period with a marked under-representation of women in 2015. During all three congresses, women from the host countries were over-represented as moderators compared to women from other countries.

Conclusion

The percentage of women speakers in oral communications remained stable in the last 8 years at ESPEN congresses, although women’s representation in other high-visibility positions has increased. As men remained over-represented, women should be more encouraged to promote their academic work in the field of clinical nutrition, particularly during this international congress.

Representation of women as editors in andrology journals

BACKGROUND

Surveys of gender diversity in editorial boards of journals have been conducted in several disciplines, but not in andrology.

OBJECTIVES

The present study was designed to investigate the gender distribution of editorial boards of andrology journals.

METHODS

A total of eight andrology journals were included in the study, and the gender information and geographical location of editors were identified based on the information obtained from the Internet.

RESULTS

A total of 382 editors' gender information was confirmed. Women made up 1 of the 9 editors-in-chief (11.1%), 13 of the 68 deputy/associate editors (19.1%), 37 of the 270 editorial/advisory board members (13.7%) and 0 of the 35 other types of editors (0%). There was no significant difference in the journal impact factor between male and female editors-in-chief (3.060±1.274 vs 3.482, p = 0.156), and no significant association was found between impact factor and the proportion of female editor (Spearman's r = -0.204, P = 0.629).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Andrology-related journals lacked adequate gender diversity, not all journals reserved reasonable editorial positions for women. Besides, increased impact factor did not bring additional gender bias. Women should be given more reasonable seats to improve gender diversity in andrology-related journals. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.