{"title":"Gender representation across surgical specialties in Malaysia.","authors":"J X Teh, S A Nah","doi":"","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Although female enrolment exceeds 50% in many undergraduate medical programmes worldwide, surgeons remain overwhelmingly male despite studies reporting better outcomes by female surgeons. We aimed to characterise gender representation across surgical specialties in Malaysia.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>We performed a cross-sectional study, extracting data of all surgical specialties from the Malaysian Specialist Register up to 30th September 2023. Gender proportions were assessed using the UNESCO Gender Parity Index (GPI), GPI<1 indicating fewer females. Gender parity was considered present at GPI 0.97-1.03. Disparities were categorised as extreme (<0.5,>1.5), intermediate (0.5-0.89, 1.11-1.5), and close to parity (0.9- 0.96,1.04-1.1). Number of years post-specialisation for each surgeon were calculated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>5236 surgeons were included. Only one specialty (Obstetrics & Gynaecology, GPI=1.03) showed parity and two specialties (Breast & Endocrine, GPI 2.67 and Ophthalmology, GPI 1.27) had more female surgeons. The other thirteen specialties showed various degrees of male predominance. Most GPI values trended higher when younger surgeons were included in the calculation, indicating greater female representation in recent years.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Most surgical specialties in Malaysia show extreme gender inequity. Further work is needed to identify root causes and improve trends. Future efforts should further examine gender disparities and strengthen measures such as mentorship, supportive policies, transparent processes, and inclusive cultures, to advance equity in surgery.</p>","PeriodicalId":39388,"journal":{"name":"Medical Journal of Malaysia","volume":"81 3","pages":"394-398"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Medical Journal of Malaysia","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Medicine","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Although female enrolment exceeds 50% in many undergraduate medical programmes worldwide, surgeons remain overwhelmingly male despite studies reporting better outcomes by female surgeons. We aimed to characterise gender representation across surgical specialties in Malaysia.
Materials and methods: We performed a cross-sectional study, extracting data of all surgical specialties from the Malaysian Specialist Register up to 30th September 2023. Gender proportions were assessed using the UNESCO Gender Parity Index (GPI), GPI<1 indicating fewer females. Gender parity was considered present at GPI 0.97-1.03. Disparities were categorised as extreme (<0.5,>1.5), intermediate (0.5-0.89, 1.11-1.5), and close to parity (0.9- 0.96,1.04-1.1). Number of years post-specialisation for each surgeon were calculated.
Results: 5236 surgeons were included. Only one specialty (Obstetrics & Gynaecology, GPI=1.03) showed parity and two specialties (Breast & Endocrine, GPI 2.67 and Ophthalmology, GPI 1.27) had more female surgeons. The other thirteen specialties showed various degrees of male predominance. Most GPI values trended higher when younger surgeons were included in the calculation, indicating greater female representation in recent years.
Conclusion: Most surgical specialties in Malaysia show extreme gender inequity. Further work is needed to identify root causes and improve trends. Future efforts should further examine gender disparities and strengthen measures such as mentorship, supportive policies, transparent processes, and inclusive cultures, to advance equity in surgery.
期刊介绍：
Published since 1890 this journal originated as the Journal of the Straits Medical Association. With the formation of the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), the Journal became the official organ, supervised by an editorial board. Some of the early Hon. Editors were Mr. H.M. McGladdery (1960 - 1964), Dr. A.A. Sandosham (1965 - 1977), Prof. Paul C.Y. Chen (1977 - 1987). It is a scientific journal, published quarterly and can be found in medical libraries in many parts of the world. The Journal also enjoys the status of being listed in the Index Medicus, the internationally accepted reference index of medical journals. The editorial columns often reflect the Association''s views and attitudes towards medical problems in the country. The MJM aims to be a peer reviewed scientific journal of the highest quality. We want to ensure that whatever data is published is true and any opinion expressed important to medical science. We believe being Malaysian is our unique niche; our priority will be for scientific knowledge about diseases found in Malaysia and for the practice of medicine in Malaysia. The MJM will archive knowledge about the changing pattern of human diseases and our endeavours to overcome them. It will also document how medicine develops as a profession in the nation. We will communicate and co-operate with other scientific journals in Malaysia. We seek articles that are of educational value to doctors. We will consider all unsolicited articles submitted to the journal and will commission distinguished Malaysians to write relevant review articles. We want to help doctors make better decisions and be good at judging the value of scientific data. We want to help doctors write better, to be articulate and precise.
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