I was recently invited to give a keynote address for a regional American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) conference. I chose as my topic for this group of female medical students, “Finding Your Voice.” I felt, it being Women’s History Month, that it was important to share the stories of women in medicine who, through advocating for themselves and others, changed the path for women in medicine. I discussed Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in 1849. I discussed Dr. Bertha Van Hoosen, the founder of AMWA, who created the organization in 1915 after being barred from membership in the Chicago Gynecological and Obstetrical Society. And I discussed why speaking up and finding your voice as a woman in medicine is so critical.
According to data published by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), women now make up a majority of residents and fellows for the first time in history, and among US medical school graduates, women have constituted the majority since 2019-2020. And yet, this growth is not being translated into my field of surgery, where the steady gains seen in other programs are lacking- a recent study showed that the rate of yearly change for women in all surgical specialties decreased significantly. Of the women who can successfully complete a surgical residency, a disproportionate number are able to climb the academic ladder to achieve full professorship, or leadership roles in departments. In the US, according to a study looking at data from major medical academic institutions for the past 12 years, women comprised only 9.2% of chairs of surgery, 14.7% of full professors, and 9.3% of deans of medical schools. By some estimates, it would take beyond most of our lifetimes — until 2096 — or as far ahead as 2136 for women to reach just half of full professorships in surgery.
And yet, when more female full professors are present, NIH funding increases, and citations go up, as female full professors have higher numbers of citations. Recent studies have also found that patients treated by female surgeons have lower rates of adverse post-operative outcomes, including death, compared to those treated by male surgeons. Women in surgery, as supported by national movements such as the #ILookLikeASurgeon movement in 2017, are learning how to find their voices and are demonstrating that gender shouldn’t be a factor in choosing who gets to hold a scalpel.
Our female medical students need to know that a path in surgery is possible. As a double-boarded surgeon in trauma and surgical critical care, but also as a mother of two, I spend a great deal of my time mentoring female medical students from across the country, encouraging them to use their voices to advocate for themselves and the careers they want and for the lives they want. Twenty-five percent of female surgeons are single compared to 6 percent of male surgeons; 60 percent of female surgeons have children compared to 92 percent of male surgeons. Nearly 40 percent of pregnant female surgery residents consider leaving the field. Women need to know that it is possible to be a parent, should they desire children, and be a surgeon. In 2026, it is possible to do both.
The number of general surgeons in the United States has been steadily declining over the past several years, with a projected general surgeon shortage of 41,000 as of 2025, says the Association of American Medical Colleges.
There is no time like the present to support women entering the field of surgery. So, the next time you encounter a female medical student, instead of asking her about her future career as a pediatrician or OB/GYN, perhaps inquire if she has an interest in cardiothoracic surgery. Or orthopedics. Or general surgery. We need her in the operating room.
About the Author: Shannon F.R. Small, MD, FACS, is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Yale School of Medicine and a Public Voices Fellow of the OpEd Project.
