Stepping Up to the Mic: Gender Gaps in Participation in Live Question-and-Answer Sessions at Academic Conferences
研究发现，在学术会议的现场问答环节中，男性参与比例显著高于女性，女性更因焦虑和担心负面反馈而退缩，男性则更多出于为他人留出空间而克制提问。
Question-and-answer (Q&A) sessions following research talks provide key opportunities for the audience to engage in scientific discourse. Gender inequities persist in academia, where women are underrepresented as faculty and their contributions are less valued than men’s. In the present research, we tested how this gender difference translates to face-to-face Q&A-session participation and its psychological correlates. Across two studies examining participation in three conferences, men disproportionately participated in Q&A sessions in a live, recorded conference ( N = 189 Q&A interactions), and women were less comfortable participating in Q&A sessions and more likely to fear backlash for their participation ( N = 234 conference attendees). Additionally, women were more likely to hold back questions because of anxiety, whereas men were more likely to hold back questions to make space for others to participate. To the extent that men engage more than women in Q&A sessions, men may continue to have more influence over the direction of science.