Comparison of Gender Diversity Among Spine Surgeons in the Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research and the Neurospinal Society of Japan: A Descriptive Study Through Secondary Analysis of Aggregated Data

Abstract

Study design: This was a descriptive study through secondary analysis of aggregated data.

Purpose: This study aimed to describe changes in women's membership in the Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research (JSSR) for orthopedic surgery and the Neurospinal Society of Japan (NSJ) for neurosurgery over the past decade and make predictions for the future.

Overview of literature: Although the ratio of women physicians in the field of spine surgery is known to be low worldwide, there is a lack of detailed surveys in Japan.

Methods: We sent emails to the JSSR and NSJ secretariats to verify membership information (gender and age) from 2013 to 2022. Using ordinary least squares, we projected the years it would take for the JSSR and NSJ to achieve a gender diversity ratio of 30%.

Results: In 2013, the percentage of women in JSSR and NSJ was 2.3% and 2.7%, respectively. However, after 2018, the percentage of women in NSJ will be higher than in JSSR, rising to 2.7% in JSSR and 4.7% in NSJ by 2022. It would require 101 years for the NSJ and more than 1,000 years for the JSSR to realize 30% gender diversity.

Conclusions: JSSR and NSJ have low percentages of women. Improving gender diversity is an important issue for both societies, and they may collaborate on finding a good solution. Both the JSSR and NSJ societies need to actively address gender diversity and become more attractively represented in society for the next generation of spine surgeons.

Keywords: gender diversity; japanese society for spine surgery and related research; neurospinal society of japan; neurosurgery; orthopedics; spine surgeon.

Figure 1. Demographic composition of orthopedic surgeons in the JSSR and NSJ by age and gender from 2013 to 2022.

From 2013 to 2022, the largest age group of men moved from the 40s to the 50s, and the number of younger male spine surgeons declined. On the other hand, there has been a slight increase in the number of young women spine surgeons. JSSR: Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research; NSJ: Neurospinal Society of Japan.