Gender balance and suitable positive actions to promote gender equality among healthcare professionals in neuro-oncology: The EANO positive action initiative.

Background: The proportion of women among healthcare and biomedical research professionals in neuro-oncology is growing. With changes in cultural expectations and work-life balance considerations, more men aspire to nonfull-time jobs, yet, leadership positions remain dominated by men.
Methods: The European Association of Neuro-Oncology (EANO) disparity committee carried out a digital survey to explore gender balance and actions suitable to promote gender equality. The survey was distributed among EANO members in 2021, with responses analyzed descriptively.
Results: In total, 262 participants completed the survey (141 women, 53.8%; median age 43). Respondents were neurosurgeons (68, 26.0%); neurologists (67, 25.6%), medical oncologists (43, 16.4%), or other healthcare or research professionals; 208 participants (79.4%) worked full-time. Positive action to enforce the role of women in neuro-oncology was deemed necessary by 180 participants (68.7%), but only 28 participants (10.7%) agreed that women only should be promoted until gender balance is reached. A majority of respondents (162, 61.8%) felt that women with an equivalent CV should be prioritized over men to reach gender balance. If in the future the balance favored women at higher positions, 112 respondents (42.7%) agreed to apply positive action for men. The top indicators considered relevant to measure gender balance were: salary for similar positions (183/228, 80.3%), paid overtime (176/228, 77.2%), number of permanent positions (164/228, 71.9%), protected time for research (161/227, 70.9%), and training opportunities (157/227, 69.2%).
Conclusions: Specific indicators may help to measure and promote gender balance and should be considered for implementation among healthcare professionals in neuro-oncology.
Competing Interests: E.L.R. reports personal financial interests as an advisory board member for Bayer, Janssen, Leo Pharma, Pierre Fabre, and Seattle Genetics; institutional funding from BMS. F.B. has no conflict of interest to declare. G.M. reports personal financial interests as an invited speaker for BrainLab and treasurer for the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer; institutional funding from AstraZeneca. N.G. has received honoraria for lectures from Blue Earth Diagnostics and for advisory board participation from Telix Pharmaceuticals. M.T. has no conflict of interest to declare. K.P. has no conflict of interest to declare. R.R. reports personal financial interests for advisory board membership for GENENTA, expert testimony for Novocure, and as an invited speaker for Bayer and UCB. Personal financial interests as an independent data monitoring committee member for Novocure, Servier, and CureVac. S.N. has no conflict of interest to declare. M.G. has no conflict of interest to declare. M.P. reports personal financial interests for advisory board membership for Abbvie, Adastra, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BMJ Journals, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), CMC Contrast, Daiichi Sankyo, Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, Gerson Lehrman, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Lilly, Medahead, MedMedia, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), Mundipharma, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi and Tocagen; institutional funding as coordinating principal investigator for PharmaMar and institutional research grants from Abbvie, Boehringer-Ingelheim, BMS, Daiichi Sankyo, GSK, MSD, Novocure and Roche. He reports non-financial interests as Past President of the European Association of Neuro-Oncology, Brain Tumor Group Chair for the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer, and as a member of the Multi-Site Guideline Advisory Group for the American Society of Clinical Oncology. M.W. reports personal financial interests as an advisory board member from Bayer, Curevac, Merck (EMD), Novartis, Novocure, and Philogen; personal financial interests as an independent data monitoring committee member for Orbus; institutional research grants from Quercis and Versameb. He also reports non-financial interests from a leadership role for the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer. S.C.S. received honoraria for lectures, advisory boards, or consultation from Bayer, Blue Earth, Tocagen, CeCaVa, and research grant funding from Apollomics. L.D. has no conflict of interest to declare.
(© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Neuro-Oncology and the European Association of Neuro-Oncology.)