Does sex affect residency application to surgery?

To determine whether women are proportionately underselected at the level of the annual residency match.

Data were obtained from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the Canadian Residency Matching Service. The odds of men being rejected from their top choice of surgical discipline were compared with the corresponding odds for women for the surgical specialties of general surgery, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, otolaryngology, urology, cardiac surgery and plastic surgery.

Women continue to be underrepresented among surgery residents and surgeons in practice; however, the number of women has increased. Neither sex was overselected among the surgical specialties examined.

There was no evidence of overselection of either sex at the level of the annual resident selection committee.