Stepping Up to the Mic: Gender Gaps in Participation in Live Question-and-Answer Sessions at Academic Conferences

Question-and-answer (Q&A) sessions following research talks provide key opportunities for the audience to engage in scientific discourse. Gender inequities persist in academia, where women are underrepresented as faculty and their contributions are less valued than men’s. In the present research...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2022-11, Vol.33 (11), p.1882-1893
Main Authors: Jarvis, Shoshana N., Ebersole, Charles R., Nguyen, Christine Q., Zhu, Minwan, Kray, Laura J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Female
Gender
Gender inequality
Humans
Male
Men
Participation
Sex Factors
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Summary:Question-and-answer (Q&A) sessions following research talks provide key opportunities for the audience to engage in scientific discourse. Gender inequities persist in academia, where women are underrepresented as faculty and their contributions are less valued than men’s. In the present research, we tested how this gender difference translates to face-to-face Q&A-session participation and its psychological correlates. Across two studies examining participation in three conferences, men disproportionately participated in Q&A sessions in a live, recorded conference (N = 189 Q&A interactions), and women were less comfortable participating in Q&A sessions and more likely to fear backlash for their participation (N = 234 conference attendees). Additionally, women were more likely to hold back questions because of anxiety, whereas men were more likely to hold back questions to make space for others to participate. To the extent that men engage more than women in Q&A sessions, men may continue to have more influence over the direction of science.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/09567976221094036