Gender disparity in speakers at a major academic emergency medicine conference.

BACKGROUND: Although women make up a substantial portion of the workforce in emergency medicine, they remain under-represented in academia.
METHODS: This study investigates trends in the representation of female speakers at the American College of Emergency Physicians scientific assembly-the largest academic emergency medicine conference in the world. Publication profiles, speaking duration and gender composition of speakers were collected and compared over a 3-year period.
RESULTS: The authors described increased representation of female speakers at the conference from 2016 to 2018, as well as an upward trend in women's actual speaking time.
CONCLUSION: This upward trend in women's representation may translate to more opportunities for female engagement in academic emergency medicine. Despite the increasing representation of women, male speakers outnumbered female speakers all 3 years, demonstrating that a speaker gender gap persists in academic emergency medicine. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.