Gender disparity in speakers at a major academic emergency medicine conference

Abstract

Background: Although women make up a substantial portion of the workforce in emergency medicine, they remain under-represented in academia.

Methods: This study investigates trends in the representation of female speakers at the American College of Emergency Physicians scientific assembly-the largest academic emergency medicine conference in the world. Publication profiles, speaking duration and gender composition of speakers were collected and compared over a 3-year period.

Results: The authors described increased representation of female speakers at the conference from 2016 to 2018, as well as an upward trend in women's actual speaking time.

Conclusion: This upward trend in women's representation may translate to more opportunities for female engagement in academic emergency medicine. Despite the increasing representation of women, male speakers outnumbered female speakers all 3 years, demonstrating that a speaker gender gap persists in academic emergency medicine.

Keywords: education; emergency department; research, epidemiology.