Examination of speakership gender disparity at an international oncology conference.
Authors: Caro Jessica , Boatwright Christina , Li Xiaochun , Fiocco Constance , Stempel Jessica M , Stoeckle James Hart , Smithy James W. , Betof Warner Allison , Shum Elaine , Sabari Joshua K. , Malhotra Jyoti , Chan Nancy , Spencer Kristen Renee , Kunz Pamela L. , Goldberg Judith D. , Mehnert Janice M. 
Published: June 2022

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Background: Gender disparity is an important issue in medicine, as women occupy a minority of academic leadership positions despite increased representation in the physician workforce. One important aspect is the gender gap of speakers at academic meetings, which limits opportunities for career advancement and mentorship. This underrepresentation of women is largely anecdotal in oncology. We hypothesized that original research is less frequently presented by women at the annual ASCO meeting. We sought to examine presentation patterns from recently featured ASCO speakers, categorized by presentation type and gender. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, observational review of data from the 2018-2021 ASCO annual meetings. Mixed-gender coders extracted data from the ASCO Annual Meeting library and institutional public websites. Speaker-identified gender was unavailable; binary gender was determined by presenter name, pronouns, and video files. For original research, we collected data on last authors as well as these roles are also considered meritorious. Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel tests were used to investigate the association of gender and roles adjusted for each stratification variable individually. Common odds ratios (ORs) were estimated for each association. Breslow-Day Tests were used to test the homogeneity of these ORs among the different levels of each stratification variable. No adjustments for multiple testing were used. Results: We reviewed 4267 unique presentations, including those which highlighted original research (Poster Discussion, Oral Abstract, Clinical Science Symposium, Plenary) vs. education (Case-Based Panel, Education Sessions, Highlights of the Day). For original research, women were significantly more likely to have an ASCO-appointed role (discussant, speaker, or chair) than a first or last author role (48% vs. 32.7% of presentations, p < 0.0001), even after adjusting for conference year (OR 0.53, 95% CI: 0.45-0.61), session type (0.52, 0.45-0.61), degree (0.50, 0.43-0.58), academic rank (0.55, 0.47-0.64), and geographic region (0.58, 0.50-0.68). There was no difference between in-person and virtual conferences (p = 0.584). For education sessions, women comprised 46.1% (n = 626), nearly half, of these speaking roles (all ASCO-appointed) compared with men. 38% of the data was independently re-reviewed to confirm accuracy; 96.4% concordance was observed in presenter gender. Conclusions: Women are less likely to present highlighted original research and are more likely to have an appointed educational role at ASCO annual meetings. This likely reflects broader gender disparity within academia. Future analyses could be improved by examining speaker-identified gender. As high-profile original research can elevate careers, examining factors contributing to this observed disparity may reveal important approaches to address gender leadership gaps in oncology.