Background/Purpose: There is growing attention to gender inequity within rheumatology with persistent challenges in achieving pay parity, career progression, & access to leadership roles. In order to promote rheumatology as a career & improve job satisfaction, we need to understand the current gender climate & develop potential solutions.

Methods: The CHANGE e-survey is a cross-sectional self-reported survey, adapted from the GEAR taskforce. It was available in 6 languages, & distributed to rheumatology organizations & social media, until April 2023. Descriptive statistics were used, & survey responses were compared by gender.

Results: Of 782 respondents, 682 had complete data & were analyzed. There were 205 male & 479 females (M:F 1:2.5), of age 35 (37-55) years from 83 countries (Figure 1) Two-thirds were rheumatologists (65%) the rest were allied healthcare professionals. Half were academics (59%) & 73% worked full time. 49% of respondents worked within the public sector & median career duration was 18 (11-29) years

Women were working in the public sector (52%) while men were distributed in the public (42%) & private sectors (43%). Both male and female respondents reported working >40 hours per week & having active leadership (55%) and academic roles (58%). Internationally, there was no difference between participation by men vs women, but at national & local levels there was more participation by women. (national: 514 vs 1043, p=0.04; local: 498 vs 962 , p=0.02) 30% of women, and 57% of men reported equal division of roles, whereas 50% of women reported these roles to be carried out predominately by women, compared with 30% of men. The most common family caretaking responsibilities were caring for children (F=57%, M=36%, p=0.41). 14% of women reported more than two responsibilities compared with 10% of men (p=0.001). 62% of women report taking previous parental leave compared with to 22% of men

Notably, both genders report a negative impact of having children on their career (10% vs. 2%); women were more likely to report a lack of career advancement opportunities due to family commitments (49 % vs. 35%). Bullying was reported by both genders, with 84% experiencing ongoing bullying. Perceived gender discrimination is described in figure 3; women reported feeling that they were ‘less likely to receive a promotion’ (p=0.04), to not be ‘groomed for leadership positions’ (p=0.05), receive less remuneration (p=0.012), assigned ‘below expertise’ tasks (p=0.05) & deal with an intimidating work environment (p=0.007). Women reported discrimination more common from older colleagues (p=0.03), nurses (p=0.04), patients (p=0.03) & administrators (p=0.019).

The most common recommendations were conference related, including no ‘male-only panels’ and family-friendly rheumatology conferences. Other suggestions include country specific support, writing & presentation skills training. 13% of women reported a desire to increase visibility of female role models

Conclusion: This e-survey is the first in rheumatology to highlight challenges faced by female rheumatologists globally. The results of the e-survey will be used to investigate the drivers of these inequities, as well as develop strategies and interventions to promote gender equity.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/gender-equity-amongst-rheumatology-professionals-preliminary-findings-of-the-coalition-for-health-and-gender-equity-e-survey-change-group/