Women Surgeons in Brazil: A Time Trend Analysis by Specialties in the Last Decade

In surgery, there is a gender worldwide gap. In Brazil, we still do not have studies that describe this scenario. Based on this lack of research, we aim to assess the prevalence of women in surgical specialties, how it has changed over the years and how long it will take to achieve an equal distribution of men and women surgeons in Brazil.

We conducted a retrospective review of the last five editions of the Brazilian Medical Demography (2011, 2013, 2015, 2018, and 2020). We analyzed the absolute and proportional (women/total) increase in women registered in 13 surgical specialties in Brazil. We performed a linear regression, and we estimated the expected year of equal distribution of women and men in each subspecialty, through the linear regression equation.

In absolute numbers of women, all surgical specialties presented a linear increase over the years (p <.05). In proportional numbers of women, however, 10 specialties showed a significant linear increase (p <.05) except cardiovascular surgery, hand surgery, and neurosurgery. According to the equation that predicts equal distribution, pediatric surgery will be the first one to achieve equal distribution, in 2026, and other specialties are far from achieving it. For example, Urology will not achieve equal distribution until 2433.

There are fewer women surgeons in Brazil than men. However, in general, there is an increase in women in the analyzed specialties over the years. With the proportional inclusion of women in the Brazilian surgical workforce, we hope that we can achieve sex equality in Brazil.