Marked gender inequity in the invited speakers at the European College of Veterinary Surgeons annual scientific congress 2012–2022

Abstract

The objective of this retrospective study was to explore gendered equity for invited speakers at the European College of Veterinary Surgery (ECVS) Annual Scientific Meeting between 2012–2022 when compared to speciality demographics for ECVS membership. Our sample populations included the European College of Veterinary Surgeons (ECVS) Diplomate membership, and all invited speakers at their Annual Scientific Meetings between 2012–2022. Data was extracted from Meeting Programs including year, speaker name, session type, and frequency of invitation. Authors were assigned a binary gender using a web-based algorithm to determine gender by a first name. The number and gender of new Diplomates each year between 1993–2023 was obtained from the ECVS Office and used as a comparison group to assess proportional representation amongst invited speakers. We found that women comprised 27% (249/924) of ECVS Diplomates in 2012 and 33.82% (312/924) in 2022. In this decade, there were 913 invited lectures delivered at ECVS Annual Scientific Meetings, 21% (188/913) were delivered by women. Women were particularly under-represented for higher prestige lectures including State of the Art (0%), Pre-Congress wet labs (0%) and Pre-Congress expert-led sessions (15.8%, 15/95). In conclusion, the proportion of invited speakers that were women at ECVS Scientific Meetings between 2012–2022 was 21%, despite women comprising >25% of ECVS Diplomate membership since 2012. Higher prestige sessions were heavily biased towards speakers being men. We suggest proactive commitment is needed to achieve gender equity in speaker invitations across all session types at ECVS Annual Scientific Meetings.

Behind the Paper

As part of our GenderEd collaboration with the School of Political and Social Sciences, our The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies veterinary surgeons explored the relationship between gender and authorship in the European College of Veterinary Surgeons.

This was a great interdisciplinary project to be a part of, featuring our amazing SPS students Alina Paczesna and Ishita Parakh who put so much work in, and our surgeons Kathryn Pratschke, Kelly Bowlt Blacklock, and colleagues Poppy Bristow and Fiona Mackay (no relation, you can tell by the K 😉 )

The findings might not surprise you, but even though entrants to the veterinary profession are predominantly female (up to 80%!) Diplomates to the European College of Veterinary Surgeons are only 34% female over the last thirty years. In the last ten years, in blinded research submissions to the college’s conference, gender parity is about equal for first authors, but senior authorship position was predominantly male (68%)

Yet again, we see evidence of invisible filters which seem to be processing women out of senior positions and respect, even in highly feminised professions like veterinary practice. We need to spend more time exploring where these filters exist, and, importantly, what we can do to overcome them.

Delighted to be a small part of this project, and if any of my MSc students are reading, I’m also very keen to explore this in fields like Animal Welfare too!

Citation

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