Investigate differences in the use of honorifics based on gender when introducing speakers at Department of Neurology grand rounds.

Women are invited speakers in disproportionately lower numbers at departmental grand rounds across many specialties, including neurology. A recent study of Internal Medicine grand rounds demonstrated female speakers are less likely to be introduced by their honorific than their male counterparts. Professional titles and honorifics convey expertise, and selective use of honorifics between female and male speakers may reinforce gender stereotypes and influence institutional culture.  

This is a retrospective observational study of video-archived Department of Neurology grand rounds between 2017-2019. Incomplete introductions, speakers who introduced themselves, and speakers without doctoral degrees were excluded. Introductions were coded for the use of speakers’ honorific by two independent coders. Covariates included speaker and introducer gender, training level, and home institution. Chi-squared tests were used to assess 1) the relationship of speaker gender to the outcome of honorific use (0= not used in introduction, 1= honorific used) and 2) the distribution of gender within invited and institutional speakers. Analyses were performed in STATA 15.1 on preliminary data.

Of the 66 video-recorded grand rounds 43 introductions met criteria. Within these, 42.9% of speakers were female, and 72.2% of female speakers were introduced by their honorific, compared to 87.5% of male speakers (p=0.21). Of the 22 invited speakers, only 36.4% were female (p=0.37).

In contrast to published literature, Neurology grand rounds at a single institution demonstrated high overall use of honorifics and no statistically significant gender disparity in honorific use. However, females comprised a lower proportion of invited speakers, consistent with preceding studies in neurology. There remains a need for conscious recruitment of female speakers to improve scholarly representation of female faculty in neurological specialties.