IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2021 - 127

100
Male
Female
80
2
7
60
6
40
1
20
19
1
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Year
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Figure 1. The number of leadership roles (general chair, program chair, and plenary speaker) by year by perceived gender across
conferences.
positions poses difficult questions that
must be considered. Were there only
29 women worldwide over the course
of 16 years who were qualified to be a
program chair? Were there only 38
who could give a plenary talk? Additionally,
there are some individuals
who have held leading roles several
times. For example, three men were
general chair on five to seven different
occasions and three other men were
program chair six to eight different
times. This suggests that one way to
increase representation is to limit the
number of times that the same people
are asked to serve.
Significant Differences by
Conference and Geography
Statistics on gender diversity vary significantly
by conference and geograTable
1. The number of unique individuals who held leadership roles
compared with the total number of available roles.
Unique Men
General chair
Program chair
Plenary
158 (68%)
207 (59%)
311 (74%)
Unique Women
25 (11%)
29 (8%)
38 (8%)
Total Roles
233 (79%)
346 (68%)
423 (83%)
Note: A unique individual is defined as a person who has served in a role one or more times. An
individual is only counted once irrespective of how many times that individual served in a role.
phy. Splitting the data by conference
shows that Haptics/WHC was the
most balanced from a gender diversity
perspective, while IROS, Humanoids,
and MEMS were the least balanced
(Figure 2). Of all the conferences,
Haptics/WHC was the only conference
to achieve gender balance in the general
chair role. In most other conferences,
fewer than 20% of general chair
roles were held by women, with IROS
notably appointing only one female
general chair in 41.
Overall, the variance in gender
diversity is lower for program chairs
and plenary speakers compared to
general chairs. For example, no conference
had more than 20% female program
chairs or plenary speakers on
average. Fortunately, this improved
34
2
33
26
1
50
41
41
2
4
69
64
59
53
69
67
56
52
83
73
7
7
3
4
14
18
15
20
Attention RAS Chapters-The RAS Distinguished Lecturer Program Is Revised and Enhanced!
Consider taking advantage of the revised program, designed
to promote the research areas of the IEEE Robotics and
Automation Society as identified by its Technical Committees.
Over 40 lecturers are currently available, with more to be
appointed soon.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2021.3072014
The Distinguished Lecturer mechanism is especially
desirable for RAS Chapters that do not regularly have the
opportunity to invite international speakers or to travel to
conferences. Speakers are available for virtual meetings.
More information may be found here: https://www.ieee-ras
.org/educational-resources-outreach/distinguished-lecturer
-program.
JUNE 2021 * IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE *
127

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IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2021

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