Breaking the scalpel ceiling: Persistent barriers faced by female surgeons in modern surgical practice

Despite female medical students and newly qualifying doctors now outnumbering males, surgery remains a male-dominated specialty. Whilst numbers of female within surgical specialties continue to rise, they still lag behind other specialties, even though women have equivalent or better surgical outcomes than their male counterparts. Reasons for this under representation are multifactorial, but include historic cultural issues, lack of representation, sexism, misogyny, sexual misconduct and challenges with pregnancy and childcare, that disproportionally affect female surgeons. Cancer surgery has traditionally been male dominated, often involving complex, lengthy surgery and is often a very competitive career. However, the data suggests that female surgeons have greater empathy, sensitivity and communication skills, which are assets in this often emotionally charged area of practice. This article presents an overview of these issues and calls for systemic reform and a cultural shift in surgical specialties to address these barriers.