At a time when women represent half of medical students nationwide, substantial gender discrepancies still exist in the field of medicine. Although many women elect to enter the fields of pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, family practice, internal medicine, and psychiatry, fewer choose careers in surgery. The most recent data about gender and specialty practice are from 2006, at which time only 15% of general surgery attending physicians and 28% of general surgery residents were women. These numbers are the lowest among all major specialties. Surgical specialty residency programs, including urology, neurosurgery, and orthopaedic surgery, have even fewer female residents.

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