Table 3. Gender differences in undergraduate medical students learning surgery: attitudes and perceptions.

Author	Year	Participants	Number of participants male/female	Type of study	Study objective	Findings
Attitudes
Jack	2010	Surgical faculty, residents, and medical students	61 Faculty 96 Residents 183 Medical students (90/93)	Survey	To assessed learning styles in medicine and to compare teaching and learning preferences	Medical students preferred converging learning (42%) and cluster 4 teaching (35%), no gender differences observed, no differences regarding specialty. 24% of students interested in surgery, no specification of gender.
Snelling	2003	1st year medical and dental students	467(173/294)	Survey	To investigate how attitudes toward dissection vary with gender and ethnicity	Females were consistently more concerned about the physical aspects of dissection whereas there were fewer gender differences in the emotional responses.
Perceptions
Babaria	2012	3rd year medical students	12(0/12)	Interview	To investigate the spectrum of experiences of sexual harassment and gender discrimination and the effect on the professional identity of female students	Participants quickly learned how to confront and respond to inappropriate behavior. They did not feel equipped to respond to the unprofessional behavior of male supervisors, resulting in feelings of guilt and resignation over time that such events would be a part of their professional identity.
Lempp	2006	Medical students	36 (15/21)	Interview	To examine students' experiences and perceptions in relation to gender and ethnicity	No gender differences training experiences. Males experienced gender difficulties during the obstetrics and gynecology rotation. Students report gender-related distinctions consistent with traditional gender stereotypes.
Stratton	2005	4th year medical students	1027 (549/478)	Survey	To examine the role of gender discrimination and sexual harassment in medical students' choice of specialty and residency program	Women exposed indicated that gender discrimination and sexual harassment influenced their specialty choices. Men choosing obstetrics and gynecology experienced such behavior. Women choosing general surgery were most likely to experience gender discrimination and sexual harassment during residency selection.
Cochran	2003	3rd year medical students	93	Survey	To evaluate the impact of a general surgery clerkship on medical students’ perceptions of surgeons and surgical careers	Medical student perceptions of surgeons and surgical careers generally improve during the surgical clerkship, but students’ impressions of surgeons’ collegial behavior and commitment to teaching deteriorate significantly during the surgical clerkship.
Neumayer	2002	Final year female medical students	305 (0/305)	Survey	To identify if the proportion of women surgeons on the faculty influences the student's perceptions about women surgeons or their career choice	Women medical students’ perception of women surgeons' career satisfaction did not appear to be affected by the proportion of women surgeons on the faculty. Their choice of surgery as a career was strongly associated with a higher proportion of women on the surgical faculty.
Field	1996	1st and 5th year medical students	?	Interview	To investigate if gender affects future career choices and the ability to reach career goals	Females were seen as being disadvantaged both in terms of career choice and their ability to achieve career goals. Female students were more likely to suffer discrimination in specialties as surgery, and to be dissuaded from pursuing a career in that specialty.