A Quantitative Analysis Investigating the Prevalence of "Manels" in Major Urology Meetings

Background: Female representation in urological meetings is important for gender equity.

Objective: Our objective was to examine the prevalence of "manels" or all-male speaking panels at urological meetings.

Design, setting, and participants: Urology meetings organized by major urological associations/societies from December 2019 to November 2020 were reviewed. Meeting information and details of the faculty were retrieved.

Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: Primary outcomes were: (1) the percentage of male faculty in all included sessions and (2) the overall proportion of manels. We made further comparisons between manel and multigender sessions. Male and female faculty were stratified by quartiles of publications, citations, and H-index, and their mean numbers of sessions were compared.

Results and limitations: Among 285 meeting sessions, 181 (63.5%) were manels. The mean percentage of male faculty was 86.9%. Male representation was very high in urology meetings for most disciplines and urological associations/societies, except for female urology meeting sessions and those organized by the International Continence Society. Nonmanel sessions had higher numbers of chairs/moderators (p = 0.027), speakers (p < 0.001), and faculty (p < 0.001) than manel sessions. A total of 1037 faculty members were included, and 900 of them (86.8%) were male. Male faculty had longer mean years of practice (23.8 vs 17.7 yr, p < 0.001) and was more likely to include professors (43.2% vs 17.5%, p < 0.001) than female faculty. Male faculty within the first quartile (ie, lower quartile) of publications and H-index had a significantly higher number of sessions than female faculty within the same quartile.

Conclusions: Our study showed that manels are prevalent in urology meetings. There is evidence showing that males received more opportunities than females. A huge gender imbalance exists in urology meetings; urological associations and societies should actively strive for greater gender parity.

Patient summary: Women are under-represented in urology meetings. Urological associations and societies should play an active role to ensure a more balanced gender representation.