Online images amplify gender bias.

Each year, people spend less time reading and more time viewing images1, which are proliferating online2-4. Images from platforms such as Google and Wikipedia are downloaded by millions every day2,5,6, and millions more are interacting through social media, such as Instagram and TikTok, that primarily consist of exchanging visual content. In parallel, news agencies and digital advertisers are increasingly capturing attention online through the use of images7,8, which people process more quickly, implicitly and memorably than text9-12. Here we show that the rise of images online significantly exacerbates gender bias, both in its statistical prevalence and its psychological impact. We examine the gender associations of 3,495 social categories (such as 'nurse' or 'banker') in more than one million images from Google, Wikipedia and Internet Movie Database (IMDb), and in billions of words from these platforms. We find that gender bias is consistently more prevalent in images than text for both female- and male-typed categories. We also show that the documented underrepresentation of women online13-18 is substantially worse in images than in text, public opinion and US census data. Finally, we conducted a nationally representative, preregistered experiment that shows that googling for images rather than textual descriptions of occupations amplifies gender bias in participants' beliefs. Addressing the societal effect of this large-scale shift towards visual communication will be essential for developing a fair and inclusive future for the internet.

Leak or link? the overrepresentation of women in non-tenure-track academic positions in STEM.

This paper examines gender variation in departures from the tenure-track science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) academic career pathway to non-tenure-track academic careers. We integrate multiple data sources including the Survey of Earned Doctorates and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients to examine longitudinal career outcomes of STEM doctorate women. We consider three types of careers after receipt of a PhD: academic, academic non-tenure-track, and non-academic positions. We find that STEM women are more likely to hold academic non-tenure-track positions, which are associated with lower job satisfaction and lower salaries among men and women. Explanations including differences in field of study, preparation in graduate school, and family structure only explain 35 percent of the gender gap in non-tenure-track academic positions.

Uneven Progress in Gender Equality at Plastic Surgery Conferences: Lessons from a Decade of Meetings.

BACKGROUND: The demographics of plastic surgeons and plastic surgery trainees are changing, reflecting an increase in the diversity of medical school graduates. The authors investigated the gender diversity of speakers at several plastic surgery conferences and evaluated temporal trends over a 10-year period. METHODS: The following societies' conferences and years were included based on the conference agendas available for review: American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Plastic Surgery Research Council, American Association of Plastic Surgeons, Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons, and American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery. Differences in the average amount of time spoken were analyzed using an independent one-tailed t test. RESULTS: The number of female speakers and the time allotted to speak increased for all conferences. There was not a consistent difference in the amount of time individual men and women were allotted to speak. Across the five conferences, there was no consistent relationship found between years since board certification and female participation in conference. Gender diversity among speakers at plastic surgery conferences has not kept pace with the increase in female plastic surgery trainees because those who are selected to speak are overwhelmingly men. The hypothesis that a paucity of female speakers reflects the relatively shorter duration of career experience of female plastic surgeons was not supported by these findings. CONCLUSION: It is imperative that conferences increase the participation of women and strive toward more accurately reflecting the burgeoning role that female surgeons have in the field at present and will have in the future.

Changing gender gap and practice patterns in reproductive endocrinology and infertility subspecialists in the United States: a Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility report.

OBJECTIVE: To identify changes in current practice patterns, salaries, and satisfaction by gender and by years in practice among board-certified reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI) subspecialists in the United States. DESIGN: Cross-sectional web-based survey including 37 questions conducted by the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. SETTING: Not applicable. PATIENT(S): None. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The primary outcome measures were total compensation and practice patterns compared by gender and the type of practice. The secondary outcomes included demographics, the number of in vitro fertilization cycles, surgeries performed, and the morale of survey respondents. RESULT(S): There were 370 respondents (48.4% women and 51.4% men). Compared with a similar survey conducted 6 years earlier, a 27% increase in the number of female respondents was observed in this survey. There was a marginally significant trend toward lower compensation for female than male REI subspecialists (17% lower, $472,807 vs. $571,969). The gap was seen for responders with ≥10 years' experience, which is also when there was the largest gap between private and academic practice (mean $820,997 vs, $391,600). Most (77%) felt positively about the current state of the reproductive endocrinology field, and >90% would choose the subspecialty again. CONCLUSION(S): There has been a substantial increase in the number of recent female REI subspecialists showing less disparity in compensation, and the gap appears to be closing. There is an increasing gap in compensation between private and academic practices with ≥5 years of experience. Reproductive endocrinology and infertility remains a high morale specialty.

Are We Getting Less Sexist? A Ten-Year Gap Comparison Analysis of Sexism in a Portuguese Sample.

Widely and slowly, discrimination against women based upon gender has become socially unacceptable. However, less is known about how sexist beliefs have progressed in the last years and if we are responding to this social antagonizing of a sexist discourse. Our goal was to verify the existence of differences in ambivalent sexism and neosexism over a ten-year gap in a Portuguese adult sample and to assess possible modifications in the relationship between the variables. A cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted using two independent groups, with measures taken in 2009 and then in 2019. Both groups were invariant in terms of average age and proportion of sexes. Our results show a decrease in hostile and benevolent forms of sexism, while neosexism remains constant. The relationships between variables suggest that sexist beliefs are changing to accommodate subtler and modernized forms of sexism, like neosexism, that deny the existence of discrimination against women, resent discrimination complaints, and maintain a paternalistic view of women. Neosexism also seems to have a stronger correlation with hostile sexism than with benevolent forms of sexism in the male subsample. This relationship is stronger for the 2019 sample. These relationships suggest that sexism is more deeply rooted than we would like to admit and adapts to social discourse. Despite our best efforts, it is yet to be overcome.

Analysis of authorship trends in vascular surgery demonstrates a sticky surgical floor for women.

OBJECTIVE: Prior research in vascular surgery has identified significant gender disparities in leadership positions, but few data exist regarding gender disparities in vascular publications. This study aims to evaluate authorship trends by gender in the three highest impact factor vascular surgery journals. METHODS: In this bibliometric analysis, PubMed was searched for articles published in the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, the Journal of Vascular Surgery, and Annals of Vascular Surgery from 2015 to 2019. The web-based application Genderize used predictive algorithms to classify names of first and last authors as male or female. Statistical analyses regarding trends in authorship were performed using Stata16. RESULTS: A total of 6457 articles were analyzed, with first author gender predicted with >90% confidence in 83% (4889/5796) and last author gender in 88% (5078/5796). Overall, 25% (1223/4889) of articles had women first authors, and 10% (501/5078) had women last authors. From 2015 to 2019, there was a slight increase in the proportion of articles written by women first authors (P = .001), but no increase in the proportion of articles written by women last authors (P = .204). The proportion of articles written by women last authors was lower than the proportion of active women vascular surgeons in 2015 (8% of articles vs 11% of surgeons; P = .015), 2017 (9% of articles vs 13% of surgeons; P < .001), and 2019 (11% of articles vs 15% of practicing surgeons; P < .001). The average number of last-author publications was higher for men (2.35 ± 3.76) than for women (1.62 ± 1.88, P = .001). The proportion of unique authors who were women was less than the proportion of active women vascular surgeons in 2017 (10% unique authors vs 13% surgeons; P = .047), but not in 2015 (9% unique authors vs 11% surgeons; P = .192) or 2019 (13% unique authors vs 15% surgeons; P = .345). Notably, a woman last author was associated with 1.45 higher odds of having a woman first author (95% confidence interval, 1.17-1.79; P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: Over the past 5 years, there has been no significant increase in women last authors among top-tier journals in vascular surgery. Women remain under-represented as last authors in terms of proportion of published articles, but not in terms of proportion of unique authors. Nevertheless, women last authors are more likely to publish with women first authors, indicating the importance of women-led mentorship in achieving publication gender equity. Support for women surgeons through grants and promotions is essential not only for advancing last authorship gender equity, but for advancing junior faculty and trainee academic careers.

Fifteen-year trends in participation of women in presentation and leadership positions in the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery, 2006 to 2020.

OBJECTIVE: The implementation of integrated vascular surgery training programs was recently shown to be associated with an increase in women entering the field. However, whether this has precipitated a subsequent increase in the active participation of women in academic vascular societies remains unclear. We sought to examine the trends of academic inclusion of women vascular surgeons and surgical trainees over the past 15 years at the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery (SAVS). METHODS: Scientific programs for annual meetings of the SAVS, and program matriculation statistics from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, were reviewed for the period of 2006 to 2020. Yearly rates and 3-year averages of conference and society participation and vascular surgery training program matriculation rates were calculated and compared with proportion testing. Spearman correlation testing was used to compare trends, with ρ ≥0.600 defined as a strong correlation. RESULTS: Examining 3-year means, the average number of women authors per SAVS abstract increased from 0.78 to 1.42 over the course of the study period (P < .001), and the overall rate of women authors steadily increased from 12.8% to 21.5% (P < .001). Although this remains less than the proportion of women matriculating into vascular surgery programs in 2019 (29.3%; P = .007), the upward trend of women entering vascular surgery overall, and particularly vascular surgery fellowship, strongly correlates with the average number of women authors on abstracts at SAVS (ρ = 0.709 and ρ = 0.737, respectively). The percentage of women presenting authors increased from 9.7% to 28.4% (P = .004), but there was no increase in the percentage of women senior authors (10.1% to 9.6%; P = .92). In the 15-year period, only one abstract of 347 (0.3%) had full authorship by women vs 35.1% with full authorship by men (P < .001). Although the increase of women matriculating into vascular surgery programs over the study period did not correlate with the increase of women in senior leadership positions (ρ < 0.600), there was an increase in the number of women in committee chair positions (0.0% to 25.9%; P = .005), which correlated strongly with increasing society membership (ρ = 0.716). Additionally, there was an increase in women holding executive council positions from 0% to 10.0% (P = .08), although this was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Participation of women authoring and presenting papers at the SAVS has increased over the past 15 years at a rate that strongly correlates with the increasing rate of women entering vascular surgery training programs. It is important that society leadership opportunities continue to parallel this trend as we seek to further improve diversity in vascular surgery.

Examining the Gender Gap in Emergency Medicine Research Publications.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to describe the proportion of female authors on original research articles and editorials across 4 emergency medicine journals from 2013 to 2019. A secondary objective was to examine the gender composition of middle authors in relation to the genders of their respective first and last authors. METHODS: In this observational study, we selected 4 journals in emergency medicine using the Journal of Citation Reports and prior literature to analyze genders of all authors from research articles and editorials published from January 2013 to September 2019. Reviewers identified author genders through web searches with matching academic qualifications or used a gender identification application programming interface to identify likelihood of male or female identity. The primary outcome was the proportion of female authors in each position. RESULTS: Selected publications included 2,980 original research articles with 18,224 authors (median 6, interquartile range [IQR] 4 to 8) and 433 editorials with 986 authors (median 2, IQR 1 to 2). Women occupied 34.9%, 24.3%, and 36.5% of first, last, and middle author positions on original research articles and 23.8%, 20.5%, and 34.2% of first, last, and middle author positions among editorials, respectively. Publications with female first and last authors (n=340 articles) had a larger proportion of female middle authors (49%, 634/1,290) compared to publications with male first and last authors (n=1667 articles, female middle authors 33% [2,215/6,771]). CONCLUSION: Over the 7 years examined, female authorship in these emergency medicine journals increased. A more pronounced gender gap exists in editorial authorship compared to research articles. On publications where the first and last author were women, a higher proportion of middle authors were women.

Saúde sexual e reprodutiva na atenção primária à saúde: relatos de mulheres lésbicas / Salud sexual y reproductiva en la atención primaria de salud: informes de mujeres lesbianas / Sexual and reproductive health in primary health care: reports of lesbian women

Objetivo: analisar relatos de mulheres lésbicas acerca dos atendimentos à saúde sexual e reprodutiva em serviços de Atenção Primária à Saúde. Método: estudo qualitativo do tipo exploratório descritivo realizado em 2019. Dez mulheres lésbicas expuseram seus relatos em duas sessões de grupo focal, estratégia que gerou os dados da pesquisa. Estes foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo do tipo temática. Resultados: as participantes expressaram aspectos culturais desafiadores para a qualidade das abordagens, como preconceito, objetificação do corpo, aceitação da homossexualidade e desconhecimento de suas práticas afetivo-sexuais. Compreendiam que suas necessidades de saúde sexual e reprodutiva não eram atendidas, conforme elas mesmas as definiam, mas reconheceram empatia e acolhimento na interação com alguns profissionais de saúde. Considerações finais: revelaram-se atendimentos influenciados por estereótipos de gênero e sexualidade, o que reduz o acesso a uma Atenção Primária à Saúde de qualidade, promotora do cuidado para com a saúde de mulheres lésbicas.

Objetivo: analisar relatos de mulheres lésbicas acerca dos atendimentos à saúde sexual e reprodutiva em serviços de Atenção Primária à Saúde. Método: estudo qualitativo do tipo exploratório descritivo realizado em 2019. Dez mulheres lésbicas expuseram seus relatos em duas sessões de grupo focal, estratégia que gerou os dados da pesquisa. Estes foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo do tipo temática. Resultados: as participantes expressaram aspectos culturais desafiadores para a qualidade das abordagens, como preconceito, objetificação do corpo, aceitação da homossexualidade e desconhecimento de suas práticas afetivo-sexuais. Compreendiam que suas necessidades de saúde sexual e reprodutiva não eram atendidas, conforme elas mesmas as definiam, mas reconheceram empatia e acolhimento na interação com alguns profissionais de saúde. Considerações finais: revelaram-se atendimentos influenciados por estereótipos de gênero e sexualidade, o que reduz o acesso a uma Atenção Primária à Saúde de qualidade, promotora do cuidado para com a saúde de mulheres lésbicas.

Objective: to analyze reports of lesbian women about sexual and reproductive health care in Primary Health Care services. Method: descriptive exploratory qualitative study conducted in 2019. Ten lesbian women exposed their reports in two focus group sessions, a strategy that generated the research data. These were submitted to thematic content analysis. Results: the participants expressed challenging cultural aspects for the quality of approaches, such as prejudice, body objectification, acceptance of homosexuality and ignorance of their affective-sexual practices. They understood that their sexual and reproductive health needs were not met, as they defined themselves, but recognized empathy and welcoming in the interaction with some health professionals. Final considerations: care was revealed influenced by gender and sexuality stereotypes, which reduces access to quality Primary Health Care, which would support health care for lesbian women..

Guía de comunicación con perspectiva de género en salud / Communication guide with a gender perspective in health

Guía realizada en el marco de la Beca de Capacitación "Estrategias comunicacionales de prevención de las violencias de género" otorgada por la Dirección General de Docencia, Investigación, y Desarrollo Profesional del Ministerio de Salud del Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Se basa en el entendimiento de que las prácticas del lenguaje son parte de una distribución de poder, y que es posible utilizar alternativas lingüísticas que promuevan una perspectiva igualitaria como garantía de derechos y como herramienta para influir positivamente en las prácticas y también en la percepción de la realidad. Se presenta como un documento técnico, a modo de guía de estilo, que permite abordar las producciones escritas, orales y gráficas de manera inclusiva, desde el marco de la perspectiva de derechos, con el propósito principal de construir igualdad de géneros..(AU)

Gender stereotypes about interests start early and cause gender disparities in computer science and engineering.

Societal stereotypes depict girls as less interested than boys in computer science and engineering. We demonstrate the existence of these stereotypes among children and adolescents from first to 12th grade and their potential negative consequences for girls' subsequent participation in these fields. Studies 1 and 2 (n = 2,277; one preregistered) reveal that children as young as age six (first grade) and adolescents across multiple racial/ethnic and gender intersections (Black, Latinx, Asian, and White girls and boys) endorse stereotypes that girls are less interested than boys in computer science and engineering. The more that individual girls endorse gender-interest stereotypes favoring boys in computer science and engineering, the lower their own interest and sense of belonging in these fields. These gender-interest stereotypes are endorsed even more strongly than gender stereotypes about computer science and engineering abilities. Studies 3 and 4 (n = 172; both preregistered) experimentally demonstrate that 8- to 9-y-old girls are significantly less interested in an activity marked with a gender stereotype ("girls are less interested in this activity than boys") compared to an activity with no such stereotype ("girls and boys are equally interested in this activity"). Taken together, both ecologically valid real-world studies (Studies 1 and 2) and controlled preregistered laboratory experiments (Studies 3 and 4) reveal that stereotypes that girls are less interested than boys in computer science and engineering emerge early and may contribute to gender disparities.

Need for Gender Focused Policies Addressing Smokeless Tobacco Use among Women in India: A Review.

BACKGROUND: Nearly 8 million annual deaths occurring globally are attributable to tobacco use. Among more than 356 million smokeless tobacco (SLT) users in 140 countries, 82% reside in Southeast Asia with the vast majority being in India and Bangladesh. According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey -2 data, 21.4% of adults in India consume SLT, among them 29.6% are men and 12.1% women. SLT has received less attention compared to its smoked counterparts in the public health measures to curb tobacco use. Though women are a sizable proportion of users, majority of the awareness building measures as well as governmental policies do not target them. This review aims to highlight these gaps objectively with constructive suggestions to enable a changed strategy to reduce tobacco consumption. AIM: (1) To critically review the gender sensitivity of tobacco control measures in India, (2) to conduct a comparative analysis of gender responsive strategies in India with those in smokeless tobacco high burden countries and (3) to make practical, feasible recommendations to enhance gender responsiveness of tobacco control measures in India in general and smokeless tobacco in particular. METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS: Following a comprehensive literature review to capture key information on gender responsiveness/sensitivity of strategies for tobacco control publications in English within the last 20 years, our search yielded 35 papers and reports from India describing policies relevant to SLT and women. Public health approach to tobacco control in general was found to be gender blind. CONCLUSION: It is evident that tobacco and smokeless tobacco related information and awareness activities need to focus more on women with improved messaging strategy to make it easily understandable and tailor the same to address the immediate and delayed health concerns. This much needed change would receive impetus with revisions in Governmental tobacco control policies, implementation and uptake.

The Path Forward: Using Metrics to Promote Equitable Work Environments.

Women continue to be underrepresented in medicine, especially in senior leadership positions, and they experience challenges related to gender bias and sexual harassment. Women who are members of multiple groups that experience marginalization, including, for example, women who are American Indian, Alaskan native, indigenous, Black, or Hispanic, face a compounded challenge. In this article, we explore how institutions and professional organizations in medicine can use metrics to better understand the structural disparities that create and promote gender inequity in the work environment and how to employ these metrics to track progress in narrowing these gaps. Examples in health care (clinical medicine, scientific organizations, scientific publishing), business, and law are used to illustrate how impactful metrics can promote accountability when coupled with transparent reporting.

Practical advice for mentoring and supporting faculty colleagues in STEM fields: Views from mentor and mentee perspectives.

In 2020, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Women in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Committee introduced the ASBMB Leadership Awards to recognize individuals with a strong commitment to advancing the careers of women in biochemistry and molecular biology along with demonstrated excellence in research, discovery, and/or service. This innovative award recognizes efforts to mentor and support trainees and colleagues at all levels. Such a leadership award provides the opportunity to focus briefly on the important role of mentoring within the STEM disciplines. The goal of this commentary, which brings together perspectives from a senior scientist and recent recipient of the ASBMB Mid-Career Leadership Award as well as two junior faculty, is to highlight approaches for purposeful support of colleagues, with an emphasis on going beyond formal mentoring committees. The commentary primarily focuses on mentoring within the academic arena of extramural funding and publication, highlighting the reality that multiple mentors with diverse expertise and perspectives are critical to support success within STEM careers.