The Perry Initiative’s Impact on Gender Diversity Within Orthopedic Education

Abstract

Purpose of Review Orthopedic surgery lags behind the other surgical specialties in terms of reaching gender equality, and women remain underrepresented in the field. The reason for this disparity is multifaceted, with lack of exposure and mentorship frequently cited as two key reasons women fail to choose orthopedic surgery as a specialty. Recognizing these gender differences, The Perry Initiative was founded to increase young women’s exposure to the field, provide mentorship opportunities, and recruit women into orthopedic surgery and related engineering fields. The purpose of this article is to describe the measurable impact of The Perry Initiative on increasing the number of women matriculating into orthopedic residencies. Recent Findings Though roughly half of medical school graduates today are women, only 16% of active orthopedic surgery residents are women. To date, The Perry Initiative has reached over 12,000 women in high school and medical school, and of the program participants who are eligible to match into any residency program, 20% matched into orthopedic surgery residencies. Summary This indicates that the women who participated in Perry Initiative outreach programs are entering orthopedic surgery at a rate that is higher than the current rate of women entering orthopedic surgery. The model behind The Perry Initiative’s outreach efforts can be scaled and expanded, ideally reaching more women and making progress towards closing the gender gap within orthopedic surgery and achieving greater gender diversity.

Gender Representation in Orthopaedic Surgery: A Geospatial Analysis From 2015 to 2022

“…Our data demonstrate that females can help close this deficit. This study adds to a growing body of evidence showing that female orthopaedic leaders play important roles in recruiting and retaining female trainees [ 10 , 11 , 22 , 23 ]. Because orthopaedic surgery is perceived by female medical students as heavily male-dominated, female mentors play crucial roles as "trailblazers" [ 5 , 9 , 24 ].…”

“…Therefore, one method of addressing the orthopaedic gender gap is to increase the number of female leaders in orthopaedic residency programs and regional orthopaedic societies, where representation is lacking [ 23 , 26 , 27 ]. Pipeline programs such as the Perry Initiative and the Nth Dimension are also necessary for achieving gender parity [ 6 , 11 , 25 ]. These programs provide females with mentoring and early exposure to orthopaedics, resulting in participants of the Perry Initiative having increased rates of matriculation into orthopaedic surgery residencies when compared with students who did not receive similarly targeted mentoring [ 11 ].…”

“…Pipeline programs such as the Perry Initiative and the Nth Dimension are also necessary for achieving gender parity [ 6 , 11 , 25 ]. These programs provide females with mentoring and early exposure to orthopaedics, resulting in participants of the Perry Initiative having increased rates of matriculation into orthopaedic surgery residencies when compared with students who did not receive similarly targeted mentoring [ 11 ].…”

“…Some explanations for the poor female representation in orthopaedic surgery include limited exposure to the field, few female mentors, concerns over work-life balance, and stereotypes about the types of personalities that gravitate toward orthopaedic surgery [ 5 - 10 ]. As a result, there have been initiatives including pipeline programs, targeted mentoring, and advising for females and underrepresented minorities (URM) [ 8 , 11 ]. While these initiatives may be effective, especially in the immediate vicinity where they are employed, the data show that there is still much work to be done before gender parity is achieved in orthopaedic surgery [ 8 , 11 ].…”

“…As a result, there have been initiatives including pipeline programs, targeted mentoring, and advising for females and underrepresented minorities (URM) [ 8 , 11 ]. While these initiatives may be effective, especially in the immediate vicinity where they are employed, the data show that there is still much work to be done before gender parity is achieved in orthopaedic surgery [ 8 , 11 ].…”