Article
Females are poorly represented at the biannual meetings of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons
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Authors
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Aaron Lawson Mclean
- Queen Mary University of London, The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, United Kingdom
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Anna Lawson Mclean
- Jena University Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery, Jena, Deutschland
| Published: | June 9, 2017 |
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Outline
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Objective: It is generally considered that female attendees and presenters are outnumbered by their male counterparts at neurosurgical conferences. The aim of our study was to investigate the proportion of female and male speakers and chairs at the Spring and Autumn meetings of one the largest national neurosurgical societies in Europe, the Society of British Neurological Surgeons (SBNS).
Methods: We obtained programmes and proceedings for both the Spring and Autumn meetings of the SBNS in 2016 to assess gender representation at these meetings. Details of the presenters and chairs from these meetings were extracted and compared with data from the register of the British General Medical Council (GMC) and online bibliographic databases including Medline to determine gender. We recorded the presentation type (lifelong learning sessions, eponymous lectures, free papers or poster presentations) along with the planned duration of each presentation. In addition, we evaluated the number of female and male session chairs. Further, we obtained recent membership data from the SBNS, including gender distribution by membership status (full members, associate members, etc.).
Results: Overall, there were fewer female than male speakers across the study period (16.5% female at the Spring meeting and 21.4% at the Autumn meeting). Females had a total of 17.3% of the aggregate speaking time at the Spring meeting and 27.3% in the Autumn meeting. Lifelong learning sessions and eponymous lectures were delivered by females in 50.0% and 16.7% of cases in the Autumn meeting. In the Spring meeting, none of these talks were given by women. 16.6% (Spring) and 24.7% (Autumn) of free papers were presented by females. Posters were first-authored by women in 29.7% (Spring) and 25.0% (Autumn) of cases. Conference sessions were chaired by females in 5.6% of instances in the Spring meeting. In the Autumn meeting, no sessions were chaired by women.
Conclusion: Less than a quarter of all speakers at SBNS Spring and Autumn meetings are women. It is predominantly men who chair and deliver the programme. This correlates broadly with the low proportions of female members of the SBNS and female neurosurgeon specialists in the UK. Initiatives like European Women in Neurosurgery (EWIN) initiative of the EANS and the RCSEng’s Women in Surgery project have the potential to help address the gender imbalance in neurosurgery over the next decade.
