Exponential Growth in Female Residency Applicants in Orthopaedic Surgery Over the Past 15 Years

Area of Science:

• Medical Subspecialties
• Surgical Education
• Gender Diversity in Medicine

Background:

• Orthopaedic surgery is a highly sought-after medical subspecialty with historically low gender diversity.
• Despite recent initiatives, orthopaedic surgery lags behind other surgical fields in achieving gender parity.
• Projections indicated it would take 217 years to reach parity with the general physician population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the trend in female medical student applicants to orthopaedic surgery over 15 years.
• To predict the timeline for achieving gender parity among orthopaedic surgery residency applicants.

Main Methods:

• Data from the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) from 2007-2022 were analyzed.
• Annual percentages and changes in female applicants were recorded.
• A best-fit trendline was calculated and extrapolated to forecast future applicant demographics.

Main Results:

• The percentage of female applicants increased from 11.8% in 2007 to 23.0% in 2022.
• Statistically significant increases in female applicants occurred in 4 years between 2007 and 2022.
• An exponential best-fit curve (R=0.8, p<0.001) predicts reaching 36.3% gender parity in 16 years.

Conclusions:

• The proportion of female medical students applying to orthopaedic surgery has nearly doubled in the last 15 years.
• While still the least gender-diverse surgical subspecialty, these trends are positive.
• Current diversity initiatives, including early education and mentorship, appear to be contributing to closing the gender gap.