Gender distribution and leadership trends in trauma surgery societies

Introduction Women are under-represented in the surgical disciplines and gender bias is believed to play a factor. We aimed to understand the gender distribution of membership, leadership opportunities, and scientific contributions to annual trauma professional meetings as a case study of gender iss...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rachael A Callcut, Heena Santry, Jennifer Knight, Shannon Marie Foster, Catherine Garrison Velopulos, Stephanie Bonne, D'Andrea Joseph, Jamie Jones Coleman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2020-12-01
Series:Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open
Online Access:https://tsaco.bmj.com/content/5/1/e000433.full
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850062889896902656
author Rachael A Callcut
Heena Santry
Jennifer Knight
Shannon Marie Foster
Catherine Garrison Velopulos
Stephanie Bonne
D'Andrea Joseph
Jamie Jones Coleman
author_facet Rachael A Callcut
Heena Santry
Jennifer Knight
Shannon Marie Foster
Catherine Garrison Velopulos
Stephanie Bonne
D'Andrea Joseph
Jamie Jones Coleman
author_sort Rachael A Callcut
collection DOAJ
description Introduction Women are under-represented in the surgical disciplines and gender bias is believed to play a factor. We aimed to understand the gender distribution of membership, leadership opportunities, and scientific contributions to annual trauma professional meetings as a case study of gender issues in trauma surgery.Methods Retrospective collection of membership, leadership, presentation and publication data from 2016 to 2018 Trauma/Acute Care Surgery/Surgical Critical Care (TACSCC) Annual Meetings. Gender was assigned based on self-identification in demographic information, established relationships, or public sources.Results Women remain under-represented with only 28.1% of those ascertaining American Board of Surgery certification in critical care self-identifying as female. The proportion of female members in Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) was comparable (29.4%), slightly lower for Western Trauma Association (WTA) (19.0%), and lowest for American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) (12.8%, p<0.05). In contrast, AAST had the highest proportion of female participants in executive leadership (AAST 32.5%, WTA 19.0%, EAST 18.8%) and WTA the highest for committee chairs (WTA 33.3%, AAST 27.8%, EAST 20.5%). AAST had the most significant increase in executive leadership during the last 3 years (AAST 28.6% to 41.6%). Invited lectureships, masters, panelists and senior author scientific contributions demonstrated the largest gap of academic representation of female TACSCC surgeons.Conclusion Fewer women than men pursue careers in the trauma field. Continuing to provide mentorship, leadership, and scientific recognition will increase gender diversity in TACSCC. We must continue to promote, sponsor, recognize, invite, and elect ‘her’.Level of evidence III, Epidemiology.
format Article
id doaj-art-9e2d673a97364cb78c45fd3c86cdaf91
institution DOAJ
issn 2397-5776
language English
publishDate 2020-12-01
publisher BMJ Publishing Group
record_format Article
series Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open
spelling doaj-art-9e2d673a97364cb78c45fd3c86cdaf912025-08-20T02:49:48ZengBMJ Publishing GroupTrauma Surgery & Acute Care Open2397-57762020-12-015110.1136/tsaco-2019-000433Gender distribution and leadership trends in trauma surgery societiesRachael A Callcut0Heena Santry1Jennifer Knight2Shannon Marie Foster3Catherine Garrison Velopulos4Stephanie Bonne5D'Andrea Joseph6Jamie Jones Coleman7Department of Surgery, University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, California, USADepartment of Surgery and Center for Surgical Health Assessment, Research and Policy, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USADepartment of Surgery, Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center, Morgantown, West Virginia, USADepartment of Surgery, Reading Hospital, Reading, Pennsylvania, USAUniversity of Colorado, Denver, Colorado, USA1 Department of Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USASurgery, NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island, Mineola, New York, USADepartment of Surgery, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado, USAIntroduction Women are under-represented in the surgical disciplines and gender bias is believed to play a factor. We aimed to understand the gender distribution of membership, leadership opportunities, and scientific contributions to annual trauma professional meetings as a case study of gender issues in trauma surgery.Methods Retrospective collection of membership, leadership, presentation and publication data from 2016 to 2018 Trauma/Acute Care Surgery/Surgical Critical Care (TACSCC) Annual Meetings. Gender was assigned based on self-identification in demographic information, established relationships, or public sources.Results Women remain under-represented with only 28.1% of those ascertaining American Board of Surgery certification in critical care self-identifying as female. The proportion of female members in Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) was comparable (29.4%), slightly lower for Western Trauma Association (WTA) (19.0%), and lowest for American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) (12.8%, p<0.05). In contrast, AAST had the highest proportion of female participants in executive leadership (AAST 32.5%, WTA 19.0%, EAST 18.8%) and WTA the highest for committee chairs (WTA 33.3%, AAST 27.8%, EAST 20.5%). AAST had the most significant increase in executive leadership during the last 3 years (AAST 28.6% to 41.6%). Invited lectureships, masters, panelists and senior author scientific contributions demonstrated the largest gap of academic representation of female TACSCC surgeons.Conclusion Fewer women than men pursue careers in the trauma field. Continuing to provide mentorship, leadership, and scientific recognition will increase gender diversity in TACSCC. We must continue to promote, sponsor, recognize, invite, and elect ‘her’.Level of evidence III, Epidemiology.https://tsaco.bmj.com/content/5/1/e000433.full
spellingShingle Rachael A Callcut
Heena Santry
Jennifer Knight
Shannon Marie Foster
Catherine Garrison Velopulos
Stephanie Bonne
D'Andrea Joseph
Jamie Jones Coleman
Gender distribution and leadership trends in trauma surgery societies
Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open
title Gender distribution and leadership trends in trauma surgery societies
title_full Gender distribution and leadership trends in trauma surgery societies
title_fullStr Gender distribution and leadership trends in trauma surgery societies
title_full_unstemmed Gender distribution and leadership trends in trauma surgery societies
title_short Gender distribution and leadership trends in trauma surgery societies
title_sort gender distribution and leadership trends in trauma surgery societies
url https://tsaco.bmj.com/content/5/1/e000433.full
work_keys_str_mv AT rachaelacallcut genderdistributionandleadershiptrendsintraumasurgerysocieties
AT heenasantry genderdistributionandleadershiptrendsintraumasurgerysocieties
AT jenniferknight genderdistributionandleadershiptrendsintraumasurgerysocieties
AT shannonmariefoster genderdistributionandleadershiptrendsintraumasurgerysocieties
AT catherinegarrisonvelopulos genderdistributionandleadershiptrendsintraumasurgerysocieties
AT stephaniebonne genderdistributionandleadershiptrendsintraumasurgerysocieties
AT dandreajoseph genderdistributionandleadershiptrendsintraumasurgerysocieties
AT jamiejonescoleman genderdistributionandleadershiptrendsintraumasurgerysocieties