Turk J Anaesthesiol Reanim. 2026 Aug 28;54(4):282-290. doi: 10.4274/TJAR.2026.262473.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated gender representation among speakers, session chairs, and society leadership roles at the Turkish Society of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation (TARK) Congresses between 2015 and 2024, focusing on temporal patterns and subspecialty-based variation.
METHODS: This retrospective observational analysis of conference sessions included all scientific sessions listed in official TARK congress programmes from 2015 to 2024. Names, roles, and session topics were extracted from publicly available documents. In the absence of self-identified gender data, participants were categorised as women or men using names, academic titles, congress documents, and publicly accessible institutional or professional information, when clarification was required. Gender proportions were compared using chi-square tests. Temporal patterns were evaluated using logistic regression analyses, and subspecialty-specific analyses were performed using intensive care as the reference category. The leadership composition of the society was evaluated descriptively.
RESULTS: A total of 2,627 congress roles were analysed, including 966 session chairs and 1,661 speakers. Women accounted for 50.3% of session chairs and 50.8% of speakers, with no statistically significant temporal change during the study period. Marked variation was observed across subspecialties. Women were least represented in intensive care sessions (30.9%) and most represented in obstetric and paediatric anaesthesia sessions (82.1%), reflecting a higher relative representation of women speakers in the latter than in intensive care. Leadership composition varied across terms, with no persistent predominance of either gender according to the descriptive assessment.
CONCLUSION: Gender representation at TARK congresses remained numerically balanced over the ten-year study period; however, the absence of a significant temporal increase and the presence of persistent subspecialty clustering suggest a stable but uneven distribution across academic areas.
PMID:42664424 | DOI:10.4274/TJAR.2026.262473
