Post by Shweta Aggarwal

🩺 Wound healing as a metaphor for progress — and why I'm hopeful. Today is International Women's Day. And what better moment to reflect on a conversation that began Friday night, at the dinner of the Female Plastic Surgeons Group. In surgery, we apply a simple principle to wound healing: if it's going in the right direction, it will heal. The process is slow — but the direction is what matters. The data is stark. New research in The Bulletin of the Royal College of Surgeons of England reveals that while women make up 1 in 6 NHS surgeons, we represent only 1 in 16 in the private sector — just 6.2%, below NHS levels recorded as far back as 2012. These are not just statistics. They represent careers shaped, limited, or lost. And yet — the wound is healing. When I began my surgical training, I was the only woman among 18 registrars in our unit. That has changed. Not enough — but meaningfully. The direction is right. Friday night, we also previewed 1001 Cuts — a documentary told through the eyes of female surgeons, unflinching about the daily discrimination they face, yet quietly full of hope. I recognised so much of it. I remember the informal male bonding that quietly shaped surgical culture, the conversations I simply wasn't part of. Exclusion doesn't need to be intentional to be real. Now, as a consultant, if I have a predominantly female team in theatre, I am conscious not to let conversations drift to spaces where people feel they don't belong. Inclusion requires active thought, not passive goodwill. The goal, as I see it, is gender neutrality — a world where we speak not of male or female surgeons, but simply of surgeons. We are not there yet. But we are moving. A heartfelt thank you to Sarita Vamadeva for bringing us together — and to every woman in that room, familiar faces and new ones alike. You are the reason I'm hopeful. We stand united — men and women — to end gender bias in surgery, and to deliver the very best for our patients. The wound is healing. 🩹 #WomenInSurgery #PlasticSurgery #GenderEquity #IWD2025 #1001Cuts #RoyalCollegeOfSurgeons #Inclusion