Paving a Path to Gender Parity: Recent Trends in Participation of Women in an Academic Surgery Society (Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract)

• Published in: Journal of gastrointestinal surgery 2023-12, Vol.27 (12), p.2705-2710
• Main Authors: Chang, Jenny H., Essani, Varisha, Maskal, Sara M., Brooks, Nicole E., Lee, Edward H., Prabhu, Ajita, Lum, Sharon S., Walsh, R. Matthew
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Female representation; Females; Gastroenterology; Gender diversity; Gender parity; Glass ceilings; Leadership; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Sex roles; SSAT Quick Shot Presentation; Surgery; Trends; Women
• ISSN: 1091-255X; 1873-4626; 1873-4626
• DOI: 10.1007/s11605-023-05865-9

The proportion of women surgeons is increasing, although women in surgical leadership and research has not kept pace. The Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT) pledged its commitment to diversity and inclusion in 2016. Our study sought to evaluate the temporal trend of gender representation in leadership, speakership, and research at SSAT. Publicly available SSAT meeting programs from 2010 to 2022 were reviewed to assess gender proportions within leadership positions (officers and committee chairs); invited speakerships, multidisciplinary symposia, and committee panel session moderators and speakers; and contributions to scientific sessions (moderator, first author and senior author). Verified individual professional profiles were analyzed to categorize gender as woman, man, or unavailable. Descriptive and trend analyses using linear regression and chi-squared testing were performed. A total of 5506 individuals were reviewed; 1178 (21.4%) were identified as women and 4328 (78.6%) as men or did not have available data. The absolute proportion of total female participation increased by 1.05% per year (R2=0.82). There was a statistically significant difference in the total proportion of women participation before and after 2016 (18.5% vs. 27.1%, p