Introduction: Gender equity is a prominent issue in the medical profession. There has been a significant rise in the representation of women, but glaring discrepancies in the number who occupy lead roles as compared to men. Diversity enhances positive outcome for patients. We aim to assess the effect of gender equity initiatives

Method: Analysis of relevant literature from 2000-2020, depicting gender disparity in the medical profession was done and discrepancies in the number of women to men in the higher echelons noted as also the actions taken at various levels to promote equity

Results: A WHO analysis on gender equity demonstrated increasing women’s representation in health since 2000, an average gender pay gap of 28%. In India the pay gap is 34%. Female conference speakers spanning a decade significantly increased from Mean of 24.6% for 40 meetings in 2007 to 34.1% for 181 meetings in 2017. Women remain under-represented in academic surgery despite increasing percentages of female surgeons and residents, who have fewer total publications and are less likely to be listed as first author. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) initiated Gender Equity Initiative with success. Salary gap decreased from -2.6% to -0.3%, but a lag existed in promotion to full professorship despite a significant proportion at the lower faculty ranks. 5 articles published in JAMA Network Open (2018-19) showed that disparities not only limit women’s career trajectories but also have a significant impact on their compensation and retirement security. The Lancet group made a public commitment to promoting gender equity and increasing women representation. The Transplantation Society’s Women in Transplantation initiative has offered funding for research on sex and gender issues in solid organ transplantation and immunology. It has created the Woman Leader in Transplantation Award. Despite these endeavours, only 2 of 6 awardees of the Leslie Brent and Anthony P Monaco award for outstanding paper published in transplantation, 2 of 34 recipients of Medawar prize for outstanding contribution in the field of transplantation and 2 of 24 recipients of Thomas. E. Starzl prize in Surgery and Immunology were women showing the gross neglect.

Conclusion: Gender transformative policies are needed to address inequities and eliminate gender-based discrimination in earnings and support access to professional development and leadership roles. Equal representation forms an essentiality rather than a vision.

Keywords: Gender disparity, women in transplant, Gender Equity Initiative.