Women in SurgeryLeaders in American surgery: Where are the women?☆
Section snippets
Methods
The membership roster of the American College of Surgeons was searched to obtain the total number of US fellows and to extract the total number who are women. The 2001 membership booklet of the American Surgical Association was personally scanned for total and women members.5 The Society of University Surgeons' membership booklet for 2000 was personally scanned for total and women members.6 The rosters of the surgery specialty ABMS certifying boards were accessed on the Web, and officers and
Results
According to the AMA Physician Master File, there were 148,622 surgeons in the United States in 1999. In all the surgical specialties, there were 21,262 women (14%).1
Women made up 44.6% of enrolled medical students from 2000 to 2001, and there were approximately 6175 women in residency programs in the surgery specialties (of a total of approximately 22,000 surgery residents).2 Sixty-five percent of residents in obstetrics and gynecology (ob/gyn) were women.3 Of the 4523 graduates of surgery
Discussion
This study began by asking the question: Are women represented in leadership roles in surgery in proportion to their numbers in the profession? To answer that question, this study reviewed the numbers of women who participate in the major societies and organizations in surgery in which the current and future direction of the profession is determined. The remarkable underrepresentation of women in these organizations speaks for itself; women have not established a meaningful presence in
References (25)
- et al.
Longitudinal study of surgical residents: 1994-1996
J Am Coll Surg
(1999) - et al.
Career pathways of graduates of general surgery residency programs: an analysis of graduates from 1983-1990
J Am Coll Surg
(2002) Physician characteristics and distribution in the US
(1999)- Association of American Medical Colleges. Women in US academic medicine statistics. Available at: http://www.aamc.org....
- American Surgical Association. Program of the 121st Annual Meeting. 2001 Apr 26-28. Colorado Springs,...
- Society of University Surgeons. Program of the 61st Annual Meeting. 2000 Feb 9-12. Toronto,...
- American Board of Surgery. Available at: http://www.absurg.org. Accessed December 20,...
- American Board of Urology. Available at: http://www.abu.org. Accessed December 20,...
- American Board of Thoracic Surgery. Available at: http://www.abts.org. Accessed December 20,...
- American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Available at: http://www.abog.org. Accessed December 20,...
Cited by (38)
Gender Equity Efforts in Sports Medicine
2024, Clinics in Sports MedicineThe European Society for Vascular Surgery: An Engine for Diversity
2023, European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular SurgeryGender differences in work-life balance of European neurosurgeons
2022, Brain and SpineDoes gender influence leadership roles in academic surgery in the United States of America? A cross-sectional study
2020, International Journal of SurgeryCitation Excerpt :A detailed tabulation of the characteristics of highly productive surgeons is shown in Table 2. The lack of female leadership in surgery has been a chronic concern [11,12,16,21]. Our study shows that there is a gender imbalance present in the demographics of academic surgery, with 79% of academic faculty being men and 21% of apparent representation by women (Table 1).
Gender discrimination against female surgeons: A cross-sectional study in a lower-middle-income country
2020, Annals of Medicine and SurgeryCitation Excerpt :It consisted of 100 units comprising the following sections: Frequency of GD/Bias during Different Stages of Career: A 10-Point Likert Scale was used to code frequency of GD/Bias as None 1(1), Insignificant (Scores 2–4) and Significant (Scores 5–10]. Sources of Experienced GD/Bias: Options included Medical School Peers, Co-Residents, Nurses and Instructors.
- ☆
Reprint requests: Olga Jonasson, MD, 1514 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607.