Leadership Amongst Regional and National Surgical Organizations: The Tides Are Changing

Introduction: Leadership amongst professional organizations is a key opportunity for scholarly activity which is essential for academic advancement. Our objective was to examine the differences between men and women in leadership within surgical organizations. Methods: Credentials were obtained through an internet search. Variables included organization type, leadership role, gender, advanced degree, medical school graduation year, and publications. A bivariate analysis was performed between genders. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Five hundred forty-three leaders were identified in 43 surgical organizations. There was a significant difference in the number of male and female leaders (72.7% vs 27.3%, p=0.016). Women were most likely to hold the role of “Other”, which consisted of lower-level leadership roles including committee chair positions and resident and medical student delegates (35.5%). Fewer women had publications (85.8% vs 92.9%, p=0.01), more women had advanced degrees (24.5% vs 17.0%, p=0.049), and women were involved earlier in their careers (5.9 years, 95% CI 4.1-7.7 years, p<0.001) than their male colleagues. Conclusion: Gender disparity in leadership of surgical organizations exists. Women are involved earlier in their careers and hold lower-level leadership positions reflecting potential for increased involvement in high-level leadership roles in the future. Data need to be trended to discern if women in surgical organizations rise within leadership roles as more women continue to enter surgical subspecialties.