Abstract
Introduction:
Females were significantly underrepresented as invited speakers at the International Stroke Conference (ISC) from 2014-2018. In 2019, there were increased efforts by the ISC program committee to recruit female speakers. Other efforts to increase female participation at the 2019 ISC included a session for women’s issues in stroke and a women’s luncheon.
Methods:
ISC invited speaker data were obtained (years 2014-2019) from the American Heart Association. Variables included sex, degree, race, speaker institution country, session type and category. Data were analyzed by Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test or logistic regression models.
Results:
From 2014-2018, females represented 28% of ISC invited speakers, and in 2019 the proportion of females rose to 47%. Females represented 38% of physician speakers in 2019 as compared to 18% from 2014-2018. For Black speakers, in 2019 females represented the majority (64%), increased from 2014-2018 (17%). For Hispanic speakers, females remained one of the lowest proportions, but with an increase from 12% to 39%. Females represented the highest and lowest proportion of speakers from South America (100%) and Africa (0%) and the largest in invited symposium (48%), similar to 2014-2018. The odds of being invited for debate as a female increased in 2019 (OR 0.67 vs 0.37, p=0.36), but this did not reach significance. Females represented the largest proportion of speakers in recovery and rehabilitation (52%) in 2019, similar to 2014-2018. Females had higher odds of being invited as a speaker in the acute, in-hospital care category (OR 0.83 vs 0.53, p=0.22), but this did not reach significance. Females were more often invited as speakers more than once in 2019 (OR 0.94 vs 0.61, p=0.29).
Conclusions:
There is potential to increase female participation at major scientific conferences through initiatives by the program committee. Identifying gender disparities at a major conference like the ISC may help to close the gender gap.