Gender of presenters at orthopaedic meetings reflects gender diversity of society membership

Caroline Tougas; Rosa Valtanen; Arpun Bajwa; Jennifer J Beck

doi:10.1016/j.jor.2019.11.026

Gender of presenters at orthopaedic meetings reflects gender diversity of society membership

J Orthop. 2019 Nov 27:19:212-217. doi: 10.1016/j.jor.2019.11.026. eCollection 2020 May-Jun.

Authors

Caroline Tougas¹, Rosa Valtanen², Arpun Bajwa³, Jennifer J Beck⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery - Children's Mercy Kansas City, UMKC School of Medicine, 2401 Gillham Road, Kansas City, MO, 64108, USA.
² Stanford University, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, 450 Broadway Street, Pavilion C, 4th Floor, Redwood City, CA, 94063-6342, USA.
³ University of Illinois, Chicago Medical College, University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, 820 South Wood St., Suite 100 CSN M/C 675, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA.
⁴ Director of Outreach and Research, Center for Sports Medicine, Orthopaedic Institute for Children, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, DGSOM, UCLA, 403 W Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 900007, USA.

Abstract

Objective: To quantify the number of women presenters and their roles at national meetings across all orthopaedic sub-specialties.

Methods: A retrospective review of annual meeting programs for 2008 and 2017 from ten North American orthopaedic societies was conducted.

Results: A statistically significant increase was seen in the proportion of women presenting at society annual meetings between 2008 and 2017 (p < 0.0001). Women were more often authors presenting abstracts (p < 0.0001)) and less frequently faculty/instructors (p = 0.0051) and moderators/chairs (p = 0.0003) when compared to men.

Conclusion: Men continue to hold a higher proportion of more respected roles within orthopaedic academia.

Keywords: Academic orthopaedic surgery; Gender disparity; Mentoring.