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

Abstract

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.

Ethical Problems Faced by Nurse Academicians in the Research Process: Descriptive Research

“…21 Oysa dünyanın pek çok ülkesinde hemşireler etik kurullarda üye olarak yer almakta ve etik kurul karar verme süreçlerinde etkin rol oynamaktadırlar. 22,23 Hemşirelerin klinik bakımdan bu kurullarda stratejik pozisyonlarda olmaları; etik kurullarda hemşirelik araştırmalarının doğru anlaşılmasına, çalışmaların etik açıdan uygun bir şekilde yürütülmesine, hastaların, yakınlarının ve meslektaşlarının haklarının korunmasına ve bakım kalitesinin artmasına katkı sağlayacaktır. "… Etik kurullarda çalışmaların reddedilmesi ve sonrasında aynı çalışmanın kurul üyelerinden biri tarafından başka bir kurumda yapılması ve fikir hırsızlıkları da sık karşılaşılan bir durumdur…" (K-10)…”