title: Women in Urology Residency, 1978-2013: A Critical Look at Gender Representation in Our Specialty.
abstract: To evaluate changes over time in female representation among urology residents compared to those within other specialties.
  
  
  
  Urology match data were obtained from the American Urological Association from 1996 to 2015. Trends in match rates of male and female urology applicants were assessed. Data for gender representation among residencies were extracted from reports in the Journal of the American Medical Association from 1978 to 2013. We compared the annual percentage of women among urology residents vs residents of other specialties over time.
  
  
  
  Mean number of male vs female urology applicants per year was 285.0 ± 27.1 vs 76.5 ± 21.8 (P < .001). There was no statistically significant difference in the mean successful match rate of male vs female applicants (68.2% vs 66.6%, P = .36). From 1978 to 2013, the proportion of female residents across all specialties rose from 15.4% to 46.1%, whereas female residents in urology rose from 0.9% to 23.8%. Between 2009 and 2013, obstetrics and gynecology and orthopedics had the highest and lowest average proportion of women, respectively (80.7% and 13.5%). The largest growth occurred in urology among all other specialties (P < .001), with an 11-fold increase seen during the study period.
  
  
  
  Male and female applicants to urology residency have similar match rates. Although urology demonstrated the greatest fold-increase in proportion of women among all specialties during the study period, women have remained a minority among urology residents. Gender representation within urology is a reflection of many factors and demonstrates a need for further improvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY. Electronic address: jah2031@nyp.org.
authors.forename: Joshua A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Halpern
authors.affiliation: Section of Urology and Renal Transplantation, Virginia Mason, Seattle, WA.
authors.forename: Una J
authors.initials: UJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Section of Urology and Renal Transplantation, Virginia Mason, Seattle, WA.
authors.forename: Erika M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Wolff
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Sameer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mittal
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Jonathan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Shoag
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
authors.forename: Deborah J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Lightner
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Soo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Jim C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Bilal
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chughtai
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Richard K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D010822:Physicians, Women / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D014572:Urology / Q000193:education*