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Gender parity perspectives in Asia Pacific: a descriptive analysis of Philippine rheumatology conferences

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Abstract

Gender parity at conferences can facilitate progress in academia towards the attainment of gender equality as emphasized in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The Philippines is a low to middle-income country in the Asia Pacific with relatively egalitarian gender norms experiencing significant growth in rheumatology. We examined the Philippines as a case study to analyze the impact of divergent gender norms on gender equity in rheumatology conference participation. We used publicly available data from PRA conference materials from 2009 to 2021. Gender was identified from information provided by organizers, online science directory networks, and a name-to-gender inference platform, the Gender application program interface (API). International speakers were identified separately. The results were then compared to other rheumatology conferences around the world. The PRA had 47% female faculty. Women were more likely to be the first authors in abstracts at the PRA (68%). There were more females among new inductees in PRA with the male: female ratio (M:F) of 1:3. The gender gap among new members declined from 5:1 to 2.7:1 from 2010 to 2015. However, low female representation was observed among international faculty (16%). Gender parity at the PRA was found to be considerably better when compared to other rheumatology conferences in the USA, Mexico, India, and Europe. However, a wide gender gap persisted among international speakers. Cultural and social constructs may potentially contribute to gender equity in academic conferences. Further research is recommended to assess the impact of gender norms on gender parity in academia in other Asia–Pacific countries.

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Data Availability

The data used in the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author [LST].

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the PRA organizers for providing access to conference archives.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Lisa S. Traboco and Nimrat Kaur Sandhu have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. St Luke’s Medical Center-Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Philippines

    Lisa S. Traboco & Geraldine Zamora-Abrahan

  2. St Luke’s Medical Center-Quezon City, Quezon City, Philippines

    Sheila Marie Reyes

  3. Radcliffe Department of Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Pavel V. Ovseiko

  4. Department of Public Health, University of California, Merced, USA

    Nimrat Kaur Sandhu

  5. Department of Rheumatology, Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, Wolverhampton, UK

    Latika Gupta

  6. Department of Rheumatology, City Hospital, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, Birmingham, UK

    Latika Gupta

  7. Division of Musculoskeletal and Dermatological Sciences, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Latika Gupta

Authors
  1. Lisa S. Traboco
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Contributions

LST, SMR, GZ-A, NKS: Writing – original draft, Investigation, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Visualization. LG, PVO: Conceptualization, Resources, Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Supervision. All co-authors take full responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of all aspects of this article.

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Correspondence to Lisa S. Traboco.

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Traboco, L.S., Zamora-Abrahan, G., Reyes, S.M. et al. Gender parity perspectives in Asia Pacific: a descriptive analysis of Philippine rheumatology conferences. Rheumatol Int 43, 1135–1141 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-023-05303-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-023-05303-8

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