Gender equity in the participation of speakers at the congresses of the Argentine Society of Rheumatology

Autores: Emilce Edith Schneeberger, Verónica Bellomio, Javier Eduardo Rosa, Fernando Dal Pra, Gustavo Citera

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Introduction: Several studies have been documented that female rheumatologists are underrepresented in academic medicine.

Objectives: To describe the proportion of female and male speakers at the annual rheumatology congress organized by Argentine Society of Rheumatology (SAR) and to compare the distribution of speakers by sex between conferences and symposia sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry.

Methods: National and international adult rheumatologists who participated as speakers in the SAR annual congresses during the period 2019-2023, were identified through a review of the corresponding scientific programs. Exclusion criteria were paediatricians and other specialties.

Results: One hundred and eighty-three speakers participated in the SAR annual congresses during the period 2019-2023. The median age was 51 years (IQR 33-87), 94 were male (51.4%), 117 national guests (63.9%), median time in the specialty was 22 years (IQR 11-30). Forty-two per percent worked in both the public and private health care.

Males were significantly older and had more time in the specialty compared to females. Only one-third of the speakers (32.2%) participated in pharmaceutical industry symposia. The average number of general lectures and symposia per speaker was equivalent between both sexes.

A higher proportion of women participated in general lectures compared to men (54% vs. 46%, respectively, p= 0.002). Conversely, men participated more frequently in pharmaceutical industry-sponsored symposia compared to women (66.1% vs. 33.9%, respectively, p= 0.007).

This difference was similar when comparing the gender of speakers according to the total number of general conferences (female 54% vs. men 46%, p= 0.054) and symposia (men 68.6% vs. female 31.4%, p= 0.0001).

Conclusion: Although the general conferences of the evaluated congresses were more frequently given by women, this relationship is reversed in the symposia of the pharmaceutical industry.