The incorporation of women in Chilean surgery

It has been observed an increasing number of women studying medicine. However, the incorporation of women to surgery remains low. In Chile we do not have information on this topic. Our goal was to collect information to provide the figures and trends in this regard. Information was obtained from the Society of Surgeons of Chile (SCCH), the Chilean Chapter of the American College of Surgeons (CCh CAC), the Autonomous National Commission of Medical Specialties (CONACEM) and the Superintendent of Health of Chile (SS), until June 2011. The SCCH has 854 partners and 64 were women (7.5%). The Chilean Chapter of the CCh CAC has 162 members and 4 women (2.5%). At CONACEM, 1.070 persons have been certified as surgeons, 80 are women (7.5%). In the register of SS there are 1.177 surgeons, 8.4% female. In 1959 the first women joined SCCH. Since then, the number has been progressive, growing mainly in the last two decades to reach the 7.5% now. Nevertheless, in all consulted sources, the percentage of women in surgical practice, still less than 10%. It seems that woman is trying to increase participation in the surgical field. However, the "surgeon's lifestyle" collides with compatibility between work and family life. We believe there is room for qualitative research in this field, to better understand motivations and challenges of women in order to access the surgical world nowadays.