Gender representation within radiology conferences in the UK in 2021. Issue 11 (November 2022) - Conley, H.
Abstract : Aim: To examine the gender representation and equality within academic meetings and society conferences within the UK radiology conferences. Materials and methods: UK-based subspecialty radiology meetings organised by major radiological associations and societies (online and in-person) from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 were included. Speakers and chairs were documented with reference to their gender, years on General Medical Council (GMC) register, academic publications, and h-index. Data were analysed using SPSS v27 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Results: Of 298 sessional chairs, 105 were female (35.2%). Of 639 speakers, 212 (33.2%) were female. Three subspecialties (interventional radiology, uro-radiology, and nuclear medicine) had a higher proportion of female speakers than the percentage of female consultants with specialist interest. Of the 71 invited international speakers, 28.2% (20/71) were female. Online conferences had a significantly greater proportion of female speakers (43.2% versus 24.1%, p< 0.001) and chairs (48.7% versus 20.4%, p< 0.001) compared to in person. Male speakers had a higher median number of publications (31 versus 12, p< 0.0001) and median h-index (11 versus 4, p< 0.001). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that women are under-represented in radiology society meetings, particularly within certain subspecialty groups. Radiological societies should actively encourage a more balanced gender representation at conferences with online conference shown to improve female representation. Highlights: Women are under-represented in radiology society meetings as chairs and speakers. Online conferences had more equitable female representation. Manels (male only panels) were more common than female only panels. Advocacy for females in academia should be supported by male role models.