Gender representation in professorship and research productivity across all surgical specialties in Canadian academic institutions.

Abstract

Background: Disparate gender representation among Canadian academic surgeons is documented; however, the association of academic rank with research productivity across all surgical specialties is not well understood. Our objective was to assess differences in gender representation by academic rank and research productivity metrics for surgical specialties in Canadian academic centres.

Methods: This retrospective, cross-sectional, comparative study used online public databases in 2021. Data sources included the Canadian Resident Matching Service program descriptions, College of Physicians and Surgeons databases, the Scopus platform, and professional websites. Gender distribution by academic rank, research productivity metrics, institution, and surgical specialty were tested for a 0.5 proportion rate. We used a generalized logistic regression model adjusting for confounders to assess gender association with ordinally ranked academic rank. We defined significance by p < 0.05 with reported 95% confidence intervals.

Results: We assessed 10 surgical specialties across 17 Canadian academic institutions. Women surgeons were underrepresented in 16 out of 17 centres (p < 0.001), comprising the majority in only obstetrics-gynecology (p < 0.001). Women were also less represented as assistant (37%), associate (27%), and full professors (18%) (p < 0.001), with lower mean h-index (6.4, p < 0.001), years active in research (11.5, p < 0.001), number of publications (18, p < 0.001), and m-quotient (0.42, p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that men were more likely to be represented in senior professorship regardless of research productivity, institution, and specialty determinants (odds ratio 1.30-1.33, p = 0.001-0.024).

Conclusion: Women surgeons were underrepresented across all academic ranks, were less likely to achieve senior professorship, and had lower research productivity metrics.