Women in surgery: little change in gender equality in Japanese medical societies over the past 3 years.

Japan lags behind other industrialized nations in terms of gender equality. To improve the work environment for surgeons, the opinions of female surgeons must be respected. The Committee on Women Surgeons of the Japan Surgical Society (JSS) conducted two surveys 3 years apart of the numbers of female councilors and directors in the member societies of the Japanese Association of Medical Sciences. In the nonsurgical medical societies, although there was an increase in the number of female councilors, only one female director was named over the past 3 years. On the other hand, there were no female directors in any of the 12 surgical societies in 2011. The JSS was founded in 1899. No female surgeon has ever been elected as director and there are currently no female councilors due to the new election system. The Gender Equality Bureau of the Cabinet Office should therefore provide greater support to improve gender equality in Japan.