Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina.
J Surg Educ. 2023 Oct;80(10):1424-1431. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2023.07.003. Epub 2023 Aug 12.
To delineate the use of gender-biased language in letters of recommendation for Obstetrics and Gynecology fellowships and its impact on applicants.
Fellowship letters of recommendation from 4 Obstetrics and Gynecology specialties at a single institution in 2020 were included.
frequency of agentic and communal language in letters of recommendation using Linguistics Inquiry Word Count software.
letter of recommendation length and language utilization by author gender and applicant success measured by interviews and match success. Marginal models were fit to determine if language varied by applicant and writer gender and subspecialty. Modified Poisson regression models were used to determine associations between language and interview receipt.
Single academic institution (Duke University); 2020 OB/GYN fellowship application cycle.
A total of 1216 letters of recommendation submitted by 326 unique applicants for OB/GYN subspecialty fellowships at our institution.
Rates of gender-biased language were low (Agentic:1.3%; communal: 0.8%). Agentic term use did not vary by applicant or author gender (p = 0.78 and 0.16) Male authors utilized 19% fewer communal terms than females (p < 0.001). Each 0.25% increase in agentic language was associated with an 18% reduction in the probability of interview invitation at our institution (p = 0.004). Percentage of agentic or communal language was not associated with successful matching into any subspecialty.
No differences in agentic vs communal language based on applicant gender were found in this cohort, though female letter writers wrote longer letters with more communal terms. Increasing agentic terms negatively impacted interview invitation but did not affect successful matching.
描述妇产科奖学金推荐信中性别偏见语言的使用情况及其对申请人的影响。
纳入了 2020 年在一家机构的四个妇产科专业的推荐信。
使用语言学查询字数软件评估推荐信中代理性和交际性语言的频率。
根据作者性别和申请人成功（通过面试和匹配成功衡量）评估推荐信的长度和语言使用情况。边际模型用于确定语言是否因申请人和作者性别以及专业而异。采用修正泊松回归模型来确定语言与面试机会之间的关联。
单家学术机构（杜克大学）；2020 年妇产科奖学金申请周期。
共 326 名申请人的 1216 封推荐信，申请我们机构的妇产科专业奖学金。
性别偏见语言的发生率较低（代理性：1.3%；交际性：0.8%）。代理性术语的使用与申请人或作者的性别无关（p=0.78 和 0.16），男性作者比女性作者少使用 19%的交际性术语（p<0.001）。代理性语言每增加 0.25%，我们机构的面试邀请概率就会降低 18%（p=0.004）。代理性或交际性语言的百分比与任何专业的匹配成功均无关联。
在本队列中，未发现基于申请人性别的代理性与交际性语言之间存在差异，尽管女性写信者的信件更长，且使用了更多的交际性术语。增加代理性术语会对面试邀请产生负面影响，但不会影响匹配成功。
