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.