FIGURE 3.

Diagram of the interactions between research, diagnostic, and recruitment practices. If females are excluded from any part of these processes it magnifies the degree of discrepant exclusion rates. The outcomes of research may directly or indirectly contribute to biased perceptions and diagnostic practices in autism (and vice versa). Reduced representation of females in autism research (due to focus on males, recruitment of primarily male samples, etc.) may increase the general perception that autism is primarily a male disorder, and strengthens the idea that the ASD male phenotype is the phenotypic template on which diagnostic definitions should be based. These perceptions have knock‐on effects on the construction of diagnostic tools and assessments: Because these tools are normed in primarily male samples, they act to further entrench biased perceptions about what may or may not reflect true autistic behavior. These issues have basic science and translational implications: Our understanding of autism is unlikely to be entirely accurate without adequate representation of females, and fewer females in research lessen the probability that any results will generalize broadly to autism or improve outcomes for autistic individuals. *Refers to the development of assessment tools, and their implementation in diagnosis and determination of research eligibility.