Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar 15;31(6):283-291.
doi: 10.5435/JAAOS-D-22-00615. Epub 2023 Jan 18.

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

Chinemerem Nwosu  1 , Jocelyn R Wittstein, Melissa M Erickson, Nicole Schroeder, Lauren Santiesteban, Christopher Klifto, Yue Jiang, Lauren Shapiro
Affiliations

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

Chinemerem Nwosu et al. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. .

Abstract

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Van Heest AE, Agel J: The Uneven distribution of women in orthopaedic surgery resident training programs in the United States. J Bone Joint Surg Am 2012;94:1-8.
    1. AAMC: Active physicians by sex and Specialty, 2019. Available at: https://www.aamc.org/data-reports/workforce/interactive-data/active-phys... Accessed February 15, 2022.
    1. Lattanza LL, Meszaros-Dearolf L, O'Connor MI, et al.: The Perry initiative's medical student outreach program recruits women into orthopaedic residency. Clin Orthop Relat Res 2016;474:1962-1966.
    1. Blakemore LC, Hall JM, Biermann JS: Women in surgical residency training programs. J Bone Joint Surg 2003;85:2477-2480.
    1. Day CS, Lage DE, Ahn CS: Diversity based on race, ethnicity, and sex between academic orthopaedic surgery and other specialties: A comparative study. J Bone Joint Surg 2010;92:2328-2335.

LinkOut - more resources