'Manels' are still common at medical conferences

Despite recent calls to do away with all-male panels at conferences and other events — known as "manels" — women account for fewer than a third of speakers at conferences and invited lectures, according to new research. Researchers evaluated the makeup of nearly 100 medical conferences between March 2017 and November 2018 — featuring upward of 23,000 speakers — and found that women made up 30% of all speakers. And while nearly 37% of sessions were "manels," fewer than 7% of events featured only women. And overall, 96% of all the conferences had at least one all-male panel. Events that included women on planning and steering committees were more likely to also feature women speakers, the study found.