The Female Threat

Women in surgery: a systematic review of 25 years

The number of women entering medicine significantly increased over the last decades. Currently, over half of the medical students are women but less than half are applying to surgery and even less go on to surgical specialties. Even fewer women are seen in leadership roles throughout the profession of surgery and surgical residency. Our purpose of the literature review is to identify any themes, which would provide insight to the current phenomenon. We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systemic Reviews and Meta-Analyses method for a systematic review of the literature over a 20-year period (1998–2018). Five broad themes were identified: education and recruitment, career development, impact of/on life around the globe and surgical subspecialties as areas of barriers for women entering or considering surgery. The systematic review suggests there are opportunities to improve and encourage women entering the profession of surgery as well as the quality of life for surgeons. Creating systems for mentorship across programmes, having policies to support work–life balance and recognising surgical training overlaps with childbearing years are key opportunities for improvement. Improving the current status in surgery will require direction from leadership.

Experience of Women in IR in the Arab World: Survey by the Pan Arab Interventional Radiology Society

We report our assessment of the experience of female interventional radiologists in different Arab countries based on an online questionnaire that was sent to 57 female interventional radiologists in 5 Arab countries. These interventional radiologists were identified from the Pan Arab Interventional Radiology Society database and through personal communications. The survey included items related to demographics, social status, and the professional challenges of interventional radiologists, with a response rate of 93%. Forty-five percent of respondents were between 31 and 45 years of age. Interventional radiology practice represented 25%-50% of work time for 51% of respondents, and the main challenges reported were related to radiation exposure, balancing family/work life, and the male-dominated interventional radiology community.