PM1049: Gender Disparity in Pediatric Surgery: An Evaluation of Pediatric Surgery Conference Participation

Background: In pediatric surgery, women now represent more than half of all fellowship applicants but remain under-represented in academic and leadership positions. Leadership in academic conferences is a factor considered for academic advancement. Underrepresentation of women in academic surgical conferences has been demonstrated in other subspecialties, but it has not been studied in-depth for pediatric surgery.

Methods: This retrospective, descriptive study analyzes conference participation from American Pediatric Surgical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics- Surgery subsection annual conference programs from 2010 to 2021. Moderator, lecturer, panelist, and research presenter sex was collected. The primary outcome measure was proportion of female participants in each role. Mann-Kendall trend test was conducted to assess for significance.

Results: Across 17 meetings, a total of 320 session were examined. Overall, mean women participation in all roles increased from 2010 to 2021. There was a significant increase in proportional female representation in leadership role as moderator (21% to 38%, p=0.01) and a trend towards significance for lecturer or panelist (20% to 34%, p=0.07). Female participation in podium research presentation demonstrated the largest proportional increase over time with 2.7-fold increase (25% to 68%, p=0.02). In 2010, 64% of sessions were moderated by all men with zero female moderators; this decreased to 21% in 2021 (p=0.01).

Conclusion: Gender representation in pediatric surgery conferences has improved over the last decade with significantly fewer sessions with only male moderators. Women now represent the majority of podium research presenters. However, women still only make up 1/3 of leadership roles at these conferences. Further efforts should be made to address increasing leadership opportunities for woman in pediatric surgery academic conferences.