ArticleESMO open2021
Female leadership in oncology-has progress stalled? Data from the ESMO W4O authorship and monitoring studies.
Article in ESMO open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evolving landscape of glioblastoma research : A 75-year bibliometric study on survival, treatment and gender in authorship.Wiener klinische Wochenschrift · 2026Review
- Women oncologists across 18 Latin American countries: A multinational survey of professional barriers, leadership, and pay equity.Dialogues in health · 2026Article
- Review
- Gender equity and career progression among Croatian oncology professionals compared with the ESMO global survey.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- [Representation of women in senior positions in emergency medicine].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2025Review
- Asian Society of Gynecologic Oncology (ASGO) 2024 Annual Meeting in Bali, Indonesia.Journal of gynecologic oncology · 2025Article
- Empowering women oncologists in India-are we there yet?The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2025Article
- Gender inequity in the medical profession: the women doctors in Spain (WOMEDS) study.Human resources for health · 2023Article
- Challenges in oncology career: are we closing the gender gap? Results of the new ESMO Women for Oncology Committee survey.ESMO open · 2023Article
- Article
- Gender profile of principal investigators in a large academic clinical trials group.Frontiers in surgery · 2022Article
- Trends in Women's Leadership of Oncology Clinical Trials.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
21 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundExploratory research showed that female oncologists are frequently under-represented in leadership roles. European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Women for Oncology (W4O) therefore implemented gender equality programs in career development and established international studies on female representation at all stages of the oncology career pathway.
methodsFor 2017-2019, data were collected on (i) first and last authorship of publications in five major oncology journals and (ii) representation of women in leadership positions in oncology-as invited speakers at National/International congresses, board members or presidents of National/International societies and ESMO members. The 2015/2016 data from the first published W4O Study were incorporated for comparisons.
resultsAcross 2017-2019, female oncologists were significantly more likely to be first than last authors (P < 0.001). The proportion of female first authors was similar across years: 38.0% in 2017, 37.1% in 2018, 41.0% in 2019 (P = 0.063). The proportion of female last authors decreased from 30.4% in 2017 to 24.2% in 2018 (P = 0.0018) and increased to 28.5% in 2019 (P = 0.018). Across 2015-2019, invited speakers at International/National oncology congresses were significantly less likely to be female than male (P < 0.001; 29.7% in 2015 to 36.8% in 2019). Across 2016-2019, board members of International/National oncology societies were significantly less likely to be female than male (P < 0.001; 26.8% in 2016 to 35.8% in 2019). There were statistically significant increasing trends in female speakers and board members across the study periods (P < 0.001 for both). Societies with a female president had a higher proportion of female board members across these periods (P = 0.026).
conclusionsReported progress towards gender equality in career development in oncology is real but slow. Women in leadership positions are essential for encouraging young women to aspire to and work towards similar or greater success. Therefore, continued monitoring is needed to inform ESMO W4O initiatives to promote gender balance at all stages of the career pathway.
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