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33rd Annual Scientific Meeting proceedings


Stream:   |   Session: STS and Oncology Short Communications
Date/Time: 06-07-2024 (16:00 - 16:15)   |   Location: Auditorium 4
Exploring gender equity in speaker invitations at ECVS Annual Scientific Meetings (2012-2022)
Pratschke KM*1, Paczesna A1, Parakh I1, Mackay JRD1, Mackay F1, Bristow P*2, Blacklock K*1
1Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2Dick White Referrals, Six Mile Bottom, United Kingdom.

Objectives:

The number of women in medical fields has increased steadily, however gender equity remains an issue at medical conferences. In this study, we explore gender equity for invited speakers at the European College of Veterinary Surgery (ECVS) Annual Scientific Meeting between 2012-2022.

Methods:

Data was extracted from Conference Programs including year, speaker name, type of session, and frequency of invitation. The number and names of new Diplomates each year between 2002-2022 were obtained from information on the ECVS website and newsletters. Authors and Diplomates were assigned a binary gender using ‘Gender API’.

Results:

The percentage female ECVS Diplomates has changed from 19.7% in 2002 to 25% in 2022. From 2012-2022, 812 lectures were delivered by invited speakers, 21.1% were delivered by women and 78.7% by men. The highest number of invited lectures per individual was 6 for women and 20 for men. In 2012, women delivered 37.9% of all invited lectures, dropping to 15.9% in 2022. The lowest percentage female invited speakers was 11.3% in 2015, the lowest percentage male invited speakers was 62.3% in 2012.

Conclusions:

Across 10 years from 2012-2022, women delivered 21.1% of all invited lectures at ECVS Annual Scientific Meetings. Although the number of female ECVS Diplomates has steadily increased over the past 20 years this has not been reflected in speaker invitations over the past 10 years. The percentage of lectures delivered by invited female speakers in 2022 was less than half that in 2012. Further work is needed to proactively address these inequities.

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