Do Women Have a Seat at the Table: Trends in Female Representation Among the Board of Directors in American Urological Association Subspecialty Societies

Abstract

IntroductionAlthough women remain vastly underrepresented in urology, the proportion of female urology residents and practicing urologists has steadily increased over the last four decades. However, it remains critical to evaluate the representation of females in the pipeline when examining trainees and practicing urologists. As it pertains to leadership positions, the gender distribution among the board of directors (BOD) and committee chairs in the American Urological Association (AUA) subspecialties has not been studied to date. Therefore, we plan to analyze the proportion of females among the BOD and committee chairs in different subspecialty societies recognized by the AUA over time. MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional observational study, quantitatively comparing the composition of gender in BOD and Committee Chair members belonging to different AUA-recognized subspecialty societies from 2014 to 2020. The websites for each subspecialty society were searched and contacted. ResultsWe evaluated BODs from 10 AUA subspecialty societies and committee chair members from 6 AUA subspecialty societies. From 2014 to 2020, the total proportion of female BOD amongst all AUA subspecialty societies did not change significantly, with a small increase from 10.6% (n = 29) to 13.5% (n = 36). However, female representation among committee chair members significantly increased from 9.8% (n = 20) to 19.2% (n = 44; p = 0.006), along with the total number of women in urology, from 897 (8.9%) to 1,375 (10.3%). Increases in female representation were seen in the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction (SSMR) from 0% to 9% and in the Indian American Urological Association (IAUA) from 4% to 13%. Of note, there were no elected female board members in the Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) or the Urologic Society for Transplantation and Renal Surgery (USTRS) from 2014 to 2020. ConclusionFemales remain a minority in leadership positions at AUA sub-specialty societies despite increased female representation in recent years. Future efforts should promote the advancement of women to positions of leadership to reflect the changing landscape of the urology workforce and surgical specialties.

Demographics and Career Trends of Urology Fellowship Directors in the United States

“…24,25 This is an increase from 9.4% female FDs in 2017, yet is consistent with recent accounts of gender composition in chair positions in AUA societies (19.2%) and academic medical leadership (25%), affirming the well-documented disparity in leadership between genders in the field. 7,8,26,27 Notably, the FPMRS subgroup had the greatest composition of female FDs at 61%, which is concordant with the proportion of female attendings in academic FPMRS divisions with fellowship programs (56.9%). 28…”

“…6 The literature indicates growing female leadership over the past 40 years. 7,8 However, significant gender disparities persist in academic urology. 9,10 FDs play a unique role shaping the future of specialized disciplines, yet the path to such leadership roles is not well described.…”

“…6 The literature indicates growing female leadership over the past 40 years. 7,8 However, significant gender disparities persist in academic urology. 9,10…”