Addressing Disparities in Graduate Medical Education—A Call to Action

The Flexibility in Duty Hour Requirements for Surgical Trainees Trial (FIRST) was a landmark study that catapulted the dialogue of sex-based disparities to graduate medical education. The trial showed that female residents were more likely to report dissatisfaction with their health, well-being, patient safety, and education. These findings paralleled inequities previously reported in the surgical workforce: over the course of a female surgeon's career, these sex-based disparities widen, ultimately resulting in differences in salaries, inequalities in hiring, and vast underrepresentation of women in senior leadership positions.