Gender Disparity in Surgery: An Evaluation of Surgical Societies

Background: The percentage of female surgeons and surgery residents has increased slowly to 24% and 35%, respectively. However, women remain under-represented in surgical leadership positions (<20%). Society awards and leadership positions are used for hiring and promoting surgeons. We hypothesized that within the Surgical Infection Society (SIS), females are under-represented. Methods: The SIS website and databases were consulted for the number of female members, awardees, and leaders. Representation was divided into four time periods: 2000-2005, 2006-2010, 2011-2015, and 2016-2017 and compared for changes over time utilizing a X-2 test. In addition, we reviewed the council members of five other surgical societies and compared the percentage of female representation in leadership positions. Results: Since the SIS was founded, there have been 587 members of whom only 135 (23%) are female. There has been an increase in female membership over time (p < 0.001). The number of female awardees rose from 37% during the first two study periods to more than 50% in the last two periods (p = 0.002). However, female representation in leadership positions decreased from 26% in 2000-2005 to less than 15% in the last three study periods (p = 0.234). Similar disparities emerged when comparing the SIS with other surgical societies: Women have represented only 24% (range 8%-42%) of leaders and 4% (range 0-11%) of society presidents. Conclusions: Female surgeons are under-represented in the SIS membership and leadership positions. Whereas the number of female surgeons and residents has increased, these trends have not occurred with council membership and leadership within the SIS. There is a need to address this gender disparity.