• Nicole Silva, Samantha Cerasiello, Alexa Semonche, Alaba Sotayo, Justin Luis, Belinda Shao, Angela Richardson, and Jean Anderson Eloy.
• Department of Neurological Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
• World Neurosurg. 2019 Sep 1; 129: 453-459.

BackgroundWomen constitute a minority (9.2%) of academic neurosurgeons. We previously found that women in academic medicine are disadvantaged in funding and career advancement opportunities. We hypothesized that women are also underrepresented at neurosurgical society conferences.MethodsPrograms from the 2014-2018 meetings of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), American Association of Neurological Surgery (AANS), and North American Skull Base Society (NASBS) were analyzed. Demographic data, including name, gender, and geographic region of practice, were collected for speaker, moderator, or leadership positions. χ2 statistical analysis was performed for difference in gender representation across all opportunity spots.ResultsIn the period 2014-2018, there was no female presidents or honored guest at any academic meetings analyzed; 53.8% of executive committees comprised all men. Women often constituted a minority (<15%) of speakers and moderators at CNS, AANS, and NASBS meetings: speakers (% female, range), 8.6 (5.5-11.7), 13.6 (10.1-19.7), and 10.5 (5.6-16.6); moderators (% female, range), 7.8 (0-14.3), 23.0 (81.3-91.3), and 13.0 (8.6-18.7). Conference panels frequently comprised all men (58% CNS, 20.7% AANS, 61% NASBS). χ2 analysis found a disparity in male and female participation across all opportunity spots (P = 0.002). Additionally, female participants are often repeated, decreasing total number of unique women participating. There was no significant increase in female participation across the study period.ConclusionsIn 2014-2018, underrepresentation of women in national neurosurgical conferences either matched or exceeded the baseline gender disparity seen in academic neurosurgery. We discussed potential causes of and strategies to address these findings.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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