Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Speaking out about gender imbalance in invited speakers improves diversity

Nature Immunology volume 18, pages 475–478 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Omissions of qualified women scientists from major meeting programs continue to occur despite a surge in articles indicating persistent gender-discriminatory practices in hiring and promotion, and calls for gender balance in conference organizing committees.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Quantification of high-impact publications among men and women invited to speak at a conference with substantial gender imbalance, and among a cohort of women neuroimmunologists who were not chosen as invited speakers.
Figure 2: Gender balance in speakers directly relates to gender balance in organizers.

References

  1. Witcher, K.G., Eiferman, D.S. & Godbout, J.P. Trends Neurosci. 38, 609–620 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Acosta, D. & Olsen, P. Acad. Med. 81, 863–870 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Beck, M.M. & Swanson, J.C. J. Anim. Sci. 81, 2895–2903 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Byrd, D. et al. Clin. Neuropsychol. 24, 1279–1291 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Dalley, B. et al. Acad. Med. 84, 1373–1382 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Drew, J.C. et al. PLoS One 10, e0119548 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Goins, G. et al. CBE Life Sci. Educ. 9, 241–247 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Holsti, M. et al. Clin. Transl. Sci. 8, 87–90 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Logan, N.S. J. Dent. Educ. 61, 273–276 (1997).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Nnedu, C.C. ABNF J. 20, 93–96 (2009).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Noonan, A., Lindong, I. & Jaitley, V.N. Am. J. Public Health 103, 412–415 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. O'Reilly, S.L. & Milner, J. BMC Med. Educ. 15, 175 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Pilkington, F.B., Singh, M.D., Prescod, C. & Buettgen, A. Int. J. Nurs. Educ. Scholarsh. 10, 123–132 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Sinkford, J.C. & Valachovic, R.W. J. Dent. Educ. 67, 468–472 (2003).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Smith, S.G., Nsiah-Kumi, P.A., Jones, P.R. & Pamies, R.J. J. Natl. Med. Assoc. 101, 836–851 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Whittaker, J.A. & Montgomery, B.L. J. Undergrad. Neurosci. Educ. 11, A44–A51 (2012).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Clauset, A., Arbesman, S. & Larremore, D.B. Sci. Adv. 1, e1400005 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Haynes, C. & Sweedler, J. Anal. Chem. 87, 6989 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Monroe, A.K. et al. J. Womens Health (Larchmt) 24, 837–842 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Casadevall, A. & Handelsman, J. MBio 5, e00846-13 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Casadevall, A. MBio 6, e01146 (2015).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robyn S. Klein is in the Departments of Internal Medicine, Pathology & Immunology, and Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.,

    Robyn S Klein

  2. Rhonda Voskuhl is in the Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.,

    Rhonda Voskuhl

  3. Benjamin M. Segal is in the Department of Neurology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.,

    Benjamin M Segal

  4. Bonnie N. Dittel is in the Blood Research Institute, BloodCenter of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.,

    Bonnie N Dittel

  5. Thomas E. Lane is in the Department of Pathology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.,

    Thomas E Lane

  6. John R. Bethea is in the Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.,

    John R Bethea

  7. Monica J. Carson and Seema Kaushalya Tiwari-Woodruff are in the Division of Biomedical Sciences, University of California Riverside School of Medicine, Riverside, California, USA.,

    Monica J Carson & Seema Kaushalya Tiwari-Woodruff

  8. Carol Colton is in the Department of Neurology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.,

    Carol Colton

  9. Susanna Rosi is in the Departments of Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science and Neurological Surgery, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.,

    Susanna Rosi

  10. Aileen Anderson is in the Departments of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, and Anatomy, and Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.,

    Aileen Anderson

  11. Laura Piccio and Anne H. Cross are in the Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.,

    Laura Piccio & Anne H Cross

  12. Joan M. Goverman is in the Department of Immunology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.,

    Joan M Goverman

  13. Etty N. Benveniste is in the Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.,

    Etty N Benveniste

  14. Melissa A. Brown is in the Department of Microbiology-Immunology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.,

    Melissa A Brown

  15. Tajie H. Harris is in the Department of Neuroscience, Center for Brain Immunology and Glia, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.,

    Tajie H Harris

Authors
  1. Robyn S Klein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rhonda Voskuhl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Benjamin M Segal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Bonnie N Dittel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Thomas E Lane
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. John R Bethea
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Monica J Carson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Carol Colton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Susanna Rosi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Aileen Anderson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Laura Piccio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Joan M Goverman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Etty N Benveniste
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Melissa A Brown
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Seema Kaushalya Tiwari-Woodruff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Tajie H Harris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Anne H Cross
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robyn S Klein.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Klein, R., Voskuhl, R., Segal, B. et al. Speaking out about gender imbalance in invited speakers improves diversity. Nat Immunol 18, 475–478 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.3707

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.3707

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing