Department of Neurosurgery, Cantonal Hospital Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland.
Department of Neurosurgery, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Neurosurg Rev. 2023 Oct 14;46(1):269. doi: 10.1007/s10143-023-02163-5.
Despite advances in gender equality, only 6% of German neurosurgical departments are currently led by women. With regard to their pioneering work and the importance of their role model effect, we aimed at reporting on the career pathways of the present and former female chairs of neurosurgical departments in Germany. We approached current and former female chairs in German neurosurgery and gathered descriptive information on their ways into leadership positions through structured interviews. Data were obtained from 16/22 (72.7%) female neurosurgical chairs, aged between 44 and 82 years. They completed their training within 6.5 ± 0.6 years, and it took them further 14.5 ± 5.9 years between training completion and chair acquisition. Having obtained their chair positions between 1993 and 2020, six (37.5%) of them have retired or changed career tracks. Of ten (62.5%) chairs still practicing, two are directors of university departments. Twelve (75.0%) hold professorships. Nine chairs (56.3%) are married, eight (50.0%) having children. Five chairs reported having experienced gender-based discrimination. Twelve had a male mentor or role model, two had a female role model, while only one had a female mentor. This study characterizes the to date small number of female neurosurgical chairs in Germany and their paths to neurosurgical leadership positions. In future, these should become historical in order to perceive the presence of women in leadership positions as self-evident normality, reflecting our society. However, further analyses comparing paths of both female and male neurosurgical chairs are necessary to explore gender-based differences in achieving neurosurgical leadership positions.
尽管在性别平等方面取得了进步，但目前只有 6%的德国神经外科部门由女性领导。鉴于她们的开创性工作和榜样效应的重要性，我们旨在报告德国现任和前任神经外科女主席的职业道路。我们联系了德国神经外科的现任和前任女主席，并通过结构化访谈收集了有关她们进入领导职位的描述性信息。数据来自 16/22（72.7%）名女性神经外科主席，年龄在 44 岁至 82 岁之间。她们在 6.5±0.6 年内完成了培训，在培训结束到获得主席职位之间又花了 14.5±5.9 年。她们在 1993 年至 2020 年期间获得主席职位，其中 6 人（37.5%）已经退休或转行。在仍在执业的 10 名（62.5%）主席中，有 2 人是大学系主任。12 人（75.0%）拥有教授职位。9 名主席（56.3%）已婚，8 名（50.0%）有子女。5 名主席报告说曾经历过性别歧视。12 人有男性导师或榜样，2 人有女性榜样，而只有 1 人有女性导师。这项研究描绘了迄今为止德国为数不多的女性神经外科主席及其成为神经外科领导的道路。未来，这些都将成为历史，以便将女性在领导职位上的存在视为理所当然的常态，反映我们的社会。然而，需要进一步分析比较男女神经外科主席的路径，以探讨在获得神经外科领导职位方面的性别差异。
