Journal of Clinical Research & Bioethics

Abstract

Are the Voices of Women and Men Equally Represented in Ethics Committees? An Italian Survey

Paola Mosconi, Lucio Lionello, Lorenzo Di Spazio and Lucia A

Introduction: Ethics committees are considered very important in the discussion of ethical questions and clinical research, but little information is available in its representation with respect to the society. World Health Organization stated that the composition of an ethics committee should be representative and balanced.
Objective: To describe the proportions of males and females in a sample of 170 Italian ethics committees.
Materials and methods: We examined gender distribution in ethics committees by analysis of the data-base available on the institutional free access website of the National Monitoring Centre for Clinical Trials. The findings were compared to a similar sample collected in 2008, and with the percentages of females and males who graduated between 1959-1968 and between 1979-1990, obtained from the National Statistics Institute.
Results: In 2010 ethics committees had 69% male and 31% female members. This imbalance only in part reflects the male/female ratio among graduates in the two ranges of years considered. The greatest differences are among medical doctors, with 83% males and 17% females. It contrasts with predominance of women among nurses and volunteers (males 34%, females 66%).
Conclusions: We found two kinds of gender imbalance: one among medicine graduates where males predominate and one among nurses and volunteers, with mostly females. This situation is discussed in relation to the representativeness and roles in ethics committees decision making. Progress is needed towards a more equal representation.