Men ask more questions than women at psychology conferences

Asking a question at an academic conference really puts you in the spotlight. You're standing in front of a room full of colleagues, hoping that you are going to come across as articulate and insightful. And, whether it's intentional or not, questioning a speaker in front of your peers sends a signal that you are an authority, and represent the kind of person who "belongs" in the field.

So it's a problem if some groups are made to feel less comfortable participating in these sessions. In a recent study in Psychological Science, Shoshana Jarvis from the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues find that women tend to feel more anxious about asking a question, and are less likely than men to do so. The finding adds to a body of research on how gender inequalities are perpetuated in science.

In the first study, the researchers analysed the audience questions after talks at a small, interdisciplinary conference (the conference isn't named in the paper, but included academics from both psychology and other fields like engineering and philosophy). The conference was attended by 375 people, 35% of whom were women and 63% men, and consisted of 32 talks with 193 questions.

The researchers recorded the gender of each questioner, and timed how long they spoke and noted the kind of question they asked (whether it was actually a question, for instance, or just a comment). They also looked at how "dominant" the questioner was, noting whether they were one of the first in line to ask a question and whether they challenged the speaker by questioning the validity or integrity of the work. Finally, the team also noted whether the questioner included a polite remark, such as thanking the speaker or making a positive comment.

The team found that 78% of all questions were from men – a significantly higher rate than you would expect given the proportion of men at the conference (this effect held for both actual questions and questions-that-were-actually-comments). Questions from men and women were about the same length, but because men asked many more questions than women, they spent 3.5 times as much time talking in total. Men were also more likely than women to be one of the first to ask a question, but didn't differ in how challenging or polite they were.

Why were women less likely to ask questions? A second study provided some suggestions. The researchers surveyed 234 academics who had attended a large psychology conference in the US (this time, women made up 61% of attendees). The team asked attendees how comfortable they were asking questions, sharing their opinions, and approaching speakers, both at this conference and at conferences generally. Participants also indicated how afraid they were of receiving backlash for participating, and rated how often they hold back questions, noting any reasons for doing so.

The researchers found that women felt less comfortable asking questions and expressing opinions than men, and were more worried about backlash for participating, both at this conference and at conferences more generally. Women didn't report holding questions back any more than men, but the reasons for holding back questions did differ: women were more likely to say that they were anxious about asking questions, while men were more likely to say they wanted to give others a space to ask questions.

Overall, then, men seem to ask more questions at conferences than women, though there aren't any clear differences in the kinds of questions or statements they make. And this difference may arise because women feel less comfortable and more anxious about asking questions.

Why is this gender gap a problem? For one, seeing a disproportionate number of men asking questions can signal to others – particularly students or those early in their careers – that academia is a "male" career. Also, as the team points out, "[t]o the extent that men engage more than women, men continue to have more influence over the direction of science". And although some might argue that asking questions at a conference is not going to have much impact on science, it's important to remember that this is just part of a bigger picture: one in which men are also overrepresented on journal editorial boards, for instance.

There are some limitations to the study. Senior academics tend to disproportionately be male, so it's hard to disentangle the effects of seniority from those of gender. Further research is also clearly needed to investigate whether participation rates are similar at other conferences and in other disciplines.

The research doesn't really explore why women felt less comfortable asking questions. Unfortunately, it's not hard to think of potential reasons: perhaps female participants had previously experienced having their opinions shot down or ignored, for instance, or had attended conferences where women were underrepresented or their contributions undervalued. A better understanding of these reasons could help conference organisers break down barriers to equal participation.