Background: Around the world, measures are being undertaken to increase the number of women in the field of neurosurgery, by improving their working conditions and developing a supportive system. This survey was conducted to assess the status of women neurosurgeons in India. Aims and Objectives: To assess the barriers, supportive system and professional/personal satisfaction of Indian women neurosurgeons. Materials and Methods: A survey questionnaire containing 19 questions was designed. The number of women neurosurgeons in India was found to be 73 as of September 2017. An anonymous Google survey was undertaken by sending the survey questionnaire through email to 69 female neurosurgeons in the month of September 2017, and the email ids of 4 neurosurgeons were not available. 55 out of 69 replied to the survey questionnaire (79.7%) in a time period of 4 weeks. Results were collected and analyzed. Results: Our survey showed that 34.54% of Indian women neurosurgeons were being residents and 65.45% being younger than 40 years of age. Majority of them (92.72%) joined neurosurgery with passion and only 30.9% had a medical professional who kindled the interest in neurosurgery. 72.68% were discouraged before joining into neurosurgical residency. 74.4% reported to receive good to excellent support from the parent department. Only 40% had another female colleague in the department and they received good to excellent support from the female colleagues. Though 74.5% received good support from male colleagues the excellent support remained low. 40% reported to face discrimination by gender. 74.5% are married and 96.4% reported to receive good to excellent support from the family members. 80% face difficulty in balancing career and personal life. 70.9% have satisfaction in professional life and 69% lead a satisfactory personal life. 67.3% of female neurosurgeons felt that formation of an exclusive women neurosurgeons’ forum would benefit them. Conclusion: In India there is a positive trend in female physicians taking up neurosurgery. The present residency program in our country is supportive to women in majority. However active measures should be taken to encourage female physicians to take up neurosurgery, reduce the existing gender discrimination and improve the supportive system especially during pregnancy and child rearing.

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Women in Neurosurgery (WIN) have come a long way and are making inroads in every neurosurgical subspecialty. There has been a worldwide increase in the number of female neurosurgeons both in the training and practice. Although this is a welcome trend, gender equality at work in terms of opportunities, promotions, and pay scales are yet to be attained. This is more apparent in the developing and underdeveloped nations. Barriers for a female neurosurgeon exist in every phase before entering residency, during training, and at workplace. In the neurosurgical specialty, only a few women are in chief academic and leadership positions, and this situation needs to improve. WIN should be motivated to pursue fellowships, sub-specialty training, research, and academic activities. Furthermore, men should come forward to mentor women, only then the gender debates will disappear and true excellence in neurosurgery can be attained. This article reviews the issues that are relevant in the present era focusing on the barriers faced by female neurosurgeons in the developing and underdeveloped countries and the possible solutions to achieve gender equality in neurosurgery. The authors also present the data from the World WIN Directory collected as a part of Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons-WINS project 2019. These numbers are expected to grow as the WIN progress and add value to the neurosurgical community at large.