Women in Neurosurgery (WIN): Barriers to progress, world WIN directory and the way forward

Abstract

Women in Neurosurgery (WIN) have come a long way and are making inroads in every neurosurgical subspecialty. There has been a worldwide increase in the number of female neurosurgeons both in the training and practice. Although this is a welcome trend, gender equality at work in terms of opportunities, promotions, and pay scales are yet to be attained. This is more apparent in the developing and underdeveloped nations. Barriers for a female neurosurgeon exist in every phase before entering residency, during training, and at workplace. In the neurosurgical specialty, only a few women are in chief academic and leadership positions, and this situation needs to improve. WIN should be motivated to pursue fellowships, sub-specialty training, research, and academic activities. Furthermore, men should come forward to mentor women, only then the gender debates will disappear and true excellence in neurosurgery can be attained. This article reviews the issues that are relevant in the present era focusing on the barriers faced by female neurosurgeons in the developing and underdeveloped countries and the possible solutions to achieve gender equality in neurosurgery. The authors also present the data from the World WIN Directory collected as a part of Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons-WINS project 2019. These numbers are expected to grow as the WIN progress and add value to the neurosurgical community at large.

814 Evaluating the Impact of Neurosurgical Rotation Experience in Africa on the Interest and Perception of Medical Students Towards a Career in Neurosurgery: A Continental, Multi-Centre, Cross-Sectional Study

“…This creates a void of potential mentors, guidance, and role models for aspiring female neurosurgeons and perpetuates the barriers to women considering a career in neurosurgery (10). Although there are increasing numbers of female neurosurgeons and trainees globally, stark gender inequalities still exist and this is even more apparent in developing countries (11). Throughout Africa, the issue of the lack of female representation in neurosurgery is attributed to many deep-seated factors, such as the inequality of access to education for women.…”

The neurosurgeon workforce: a geographical gender-focused analysis of the trends in representation of neurosurgeons and choices in training over 70 years

“…The lack of female leaders and mentors in neurosurgery may discourage women from entering the field or hinder their career progression. 32 All of these factors coalesce to result in fewer numbers of women than men currently applying to neurosurgery.…”

Sex Disparities in Ophthalmology From Training Through Practice

“…The sex gap within surgical specialties including neurosurgery, orthopedics, and urology has been well reported, with similar barriers cited across the board . Negative experiences such as microaggressions and macroaggressions starting in the preclinical years, a paucity of female mentorship and representation in leadership positions, and concerns with work-life balance are often cited as key contributors to this sex gap …”

“…2 Negative experiences such as microaggressions and macroaggressions starting in the preclinical years, a paucity of female mentorship and representation in leadership positions, and concerns with work-life balance are often cited as key contributors to this sex gap. 3 In a systematic review of females in surgery over a 25-year period, Singh et al 4 proposed that there are opportunities to improve equity for females across surgical specialties, particularly in areas of recruitment, career development, and quality of life. Although many of these findings can be applied to surgery broadly, the experiences of females in various surgical subspecialties may be different.…”