Women in Neurosurgery (WIN) have come a long way and are making inroads in every neurosurgical
subspecialty. There has been a worldwide increase in the number of female neurosurgeons
both in the training and practice. Although this is a welcome trend, gender equality
at work in terms of opportunities, promotions, and pay scales are yet to be attained.
This is more apparent in the developing and underdeveloped nations. Barriers for a
female neurosurgeon exist in every phase before entering residency, during training,
and at workplace. In the neurosurgical specialty, only a few women are in chief academic
and leadership positions, and this situation needs to improve. WIN should be motivated
to pursue fellowships, sub-specialty training, research, and academic activities.
Furthermore, men should come forward to mentor women, only then the gender debates
will disappear and true excellence in neurosurgery can be attained. This article reviews
the issues that are relevant in the present era focusing on the barriers faced by
female neurosurgeons in the developing and underdeveloped countries and the possible
solutions to achieve gender equality in neurosurgery. The authors also present the
data from the World WIN Directory collected as a part of Asian Congress of Neurological
Surgeons-WINS project 2019. These numbers are expected to grow as the WIN progress
and add value to the neurosurgical community at large.
Key-words:
Barriers - female neurosurgeons - gender equality - leadership - mentoring - work-life
balance - world WIN directory
