• Raina Sinha, Michael Brimacombe, and Jennifer C Romano.
• Division of Cardiac Surgery, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, University of Connecticut, Hartford, Conn. Electronic address: rainasinha82@gmail.com.
• J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2023 May 1; 165 (5): 166916771669-1677.

ObjectiveThere are limited data regarding the impact of gender within congenital heart surgery. Our aim was to assess gender-related experiences by surgeons in this field.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was emailed to practicing congenital heart surgeons to ascertain the perception of gender in 5 domains: training, professional career, clinical practice, personal life, and career outlook.ResultsThe survey response rate was 94% (17/18) for women and 44% (112/257) for men. More than half of women (53%) were discouraged from pursuing congenital heart surgery (P < .001) and reported a negative impact of gender in attaining their first congenital heart surgery job (P < .001) compared with men. Despite similar demographics, women reported lower starting annual salaries ($150K-$250K vs $250K-$400K), lower current annual salaries ($500K-$750K vs $750K-$1M), lower academic ranks (clinical instructor 6% vs 4% [P = .045], assistant professor 35% vs 19% [P = .19], associate professor 41% vs 25% [P = .24], and professor 6% vs 41% [P = .005]) along with lower annual salaries at the associate professor ($500K-$750K vs $1M-$1.25M) and professor levels ($1M-$1.25M vs >$1.5M) compared with men. Sexual harassment was experienced more frequently by women both in training (65% vs 6%, P < .001) and in practice (65% and 4%, P < .001).ConclusionsThis survey highlights many areas of gender-related differences: discouragement due to gender to pursue congenital heart surgery, sexual harassment in training and practice, salary and academic rank differentials, negative gender perception at work, and lower career satisfaction for women. Despite various differences between both genders, the majority in each group would choose to enter this profession again as well as encourage others to do so.Copyright © 2022 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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