• Ibrahim E Efe, Ilhamiyya Aliyeva, Defne Beyaztas, Vanessa M Swiatek, Ignatius N Esene, and Saleem I Abdulrauf.
• Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany; Institute of Cellular Neurosciences, Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: ibrahim.efe@charite.de.
• World Neurosurg. 2022 Jul 1; 163: 96-103.e2.

BackgroundDespite advances in gender equity, the paucity of women neurosurgeons remains. In Germany, women accounted for only 24% of the specialists who completed their neurosurgical training in 2019. We sought to explore the perceptions of medical students in Germany toward a neurosurgical career, focusing on gender-specific differences.MethodsA digital 26-item questionnaire with a Likert 4-point scale and open-ended questions was distributed to the German medical school student bodies. Data were analyzed to determine statistically significant intragroup variability between women and men.ResultsTwo hundred ten medical students participated in the survey. Women and men were equally interested in brain pathologies (38% vs. 47%, strongly agreed), whereas interest in neurosurgery was significantly greater in men (12% vs. 26%, strongly agreed). Men were less likely to believe that women neurosurgery residents would face inequality at work. They were also less likely to support a gender quota in neurosurgery. Yet, both women and men were convinced that a rise in the number of women would positively impact the field. No gender dependency was seen in students' strive for success and prestige. Men felt discouraged from pursuing neurosurgery because they feared an unpleasant work environment, whereas women were concerned about neurosurgery not being family-friendly. Regardless of gender, the greatest factor deterring students from neurosurgery was poor work-life balance.ConclusionsAwareness must be raised concerning gender inequity and discrimination in our specialty. A multifaceted approach is imperative to develop neurosurgery into a profession where gender no longer hinders access to training and success in the field.Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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