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Research Projects
Women have long been under-represented in surgery, but this situation is gradually improving as more and more women succeed in surgery.
Over
the years, much research has been done into women in surgery, their career
choices and reasons for these. Projects we are currently working are summarised below. Previous projects and published studies can be found in the Research Archive
For information on the numbers of women in individual specialties or surgery as a whole please see here
If you would like further information about Women in Surgery, please contact us.
Current Research Projects
Reasons behind Women’s Career
Choices - Exeter University Collaborative Project
The Psychology department at the University of Exeter in collaboration with WinS, is undertaking research to examine reasons behind the relatively low proportion of women in surgery. To date, the team at Exeter have found that women’s choices to opt out of surgery are complex. It is not that women inherently lack career ambition or are unwilling to make the sacrifices required to succeed in surgery; rather, women will direct their ambition towards careers in which they perceive they are likely to succeed. Thus, visible, successful role models are vital to encourage more women into surgery.
An overview of the teams work to dates is available here.
This work with the University of Exeter continues, and we look forward to publishing more results shortly.
New for 2013
Women in Surgery and Exeter University Blog
This blog is part of a project led by University of Exeter psychologists in collaboration with the Royal College of Surgeons, Scalpel and the Medical Women’s Federation. The project aims to increase the number of women working as surgeons by challenging the perception that surgeons are, or need to be, a particular type of person.
This work is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The blog is available here. Or you can follow the blog via the Women in Surgery facebook page
Vodcast
As part of International Women's Day the Women in Surgery team and Exeter University launched their exciting new video podcast to support all current and prospective surgeons;
To find out more about our research project with Exeter University please see our section on current research projects, if you have any queries about the project or the video podcast please contact us via email at the Women in Surgery office.
