Females in Neurosurgery: from a matter of fortuitous occasions towards a conscious choice

Abstract Medicine has made progress towards gender equality, currently achieving almost equal distribution between men and women amongst graduates. However, more still needs to be done since most surgical subspecialties are still lacking adequate female representation and this persisting gender gap is particularly evident in both practical neurosurgery and the academic world. Gradual advancements have enabled a small number of women to pursue a successful career in neurological surgery, pairing clinical practice with mentoring and involvement in academic research. These efforts show more needs to be done to bridge the existing historic and current gap which has recently aroused growing interest among the neurosurgical community through several contribution manuscripts on internationally relevant papers. In neurosurgical societies around the world, the existence of gender-related issues and women-reserved sections have started to attract attention and recognition on how to properly address this issue among present and future neurosurgeons.