ABSTRACT
Surgeons are excellent multi-taskers; the fluidity with which a surgeon can carry on a conversation while also, say, deftly maneuvering a liver out of the way can be remarkable. By history and convention, surgery is a man's field. Despite growing numbers of women applying to surgical residency, there are far more practicing male surgeons today than female surgeons. This chapter a presents a case story of a woman surgeon. Given this back story, it is not surprising that women have struggled to gain a foothold in the world of surgery in the modern era. Societal sex stereotyping has been prevalent throughout history, and women have been fighting to overcome this perception of inability for many years. Life as a female surgeon in today's society has been a challenge for a variety of reasons, some of which overlap from a historical perspective.
