Programs which are Female Friendly?

makeup (no pun intended) of programs is pretty dynamic over time. off the top of my head, from my year i remember cinci and indy being pretty testosterone rich. best thing to do is to look at program websites. a lot of programs list a "current residents" section that says who is in their program. you can scan those lists for women.

try wichita, they have several female residents there.

I agree with Wichita as female friendly, also University of Rochester, Akron General, and JPS in Fort Worth seemd pretty female friendly.

I would avoid Kentucky and Indiana University. Both programs recently had their only female residents leave the programs and the programs seem pretty bitter. At both places, I was told that they would not take a female this year.

VCU/MCV is also very female friendly. Although this was not the case even 5 years ago, faculty has changed and a few members of the selection committee are strong advocates for female applicants. They take four residents a year and have matched a female each of the last 3 years. Also there are two women in the incoming class from this years match. They do not get many rotators. I think there was maybe three or four last year, so obviously this could really help you. I did rotate there but ended up matching at the school I ranked one position higher. I think there are a lot of misconceptions about this program maybe based on its rep from 5-10 years ago but it has made a lot of changes and I think it is an excellent place to train. I will be posting a review on scutwork and this site in the near future...

There have been questions along this line before, so searching might help you find more info.
I agree with the previous replies -- especially Akron General (2 out of 3 interns are female this coming year) and MCV -- very actively and blatantly recruiting women during the interview.
Another one to be on the list of places to avoid is Alton Ochsner in New Orleans. They offered me an interview, but when a friend went for his interview a couple weeks before mine was scheduled, he heard them actually say that they did not want any females! I promptly cancelled my interview rather than waste my time and money. I think there are definitely programs out there like this who offer interviews to women, but do not actually want them in their program.
At least this year Penn seemed to be trying to recruit women. Michigan is also female friendly (or at least gender neutral) with a female Program Director.
Duke tried -- almost too hard if you ask me. The day I interviewed there, 11 of the 25 interviewees were girls (a very high percentage for an interview day) and they made a point of trying to have each of the girls interview with their female sports attending and during that interview she tried very hard to convince why it is OK to be a female at Duke. She was trying so hard that I don't even think she asked me a single question. Right now there is only 1 female resident out of their 40 residents, so I guess they felt that they needed to explain themselves to the girls that were interviewing. I will say, however, that a friend of mine who rotated there for a month said that it was not a female-friendly atmosphere in reality, so I'd be wary of them. I do not know who they took in terms of interns this year.
Mayo seems pretty neutral in terms of gender, not necessarily recruiting women, but certainly with no bias against them.
Harbor-UCLA gave the impression that they were looking for a woman to "replace" their only female who is graduating this year, but I don't know if there are any in their intern class. They seemed very good about treating everyone equally when I rotated there, and their female was just one of the guys.
OHSU (Portland, OR) also has several females and seems pretty much female friendly.
Maricopa in Phoenix interviewed a couple of women and have had some in the past, but I don't think they have any right now (not including incoming interns -- I don't know who they have for the next year). I felt that this was one place that made it seem like a big deal during the interview, though. In every single interview (there were like 7), my gender came up as an issue and they asked how I was going to deal with it or why I was doing it, etc. They were interviewing women, but made me wonder if they really wanted one?

Hope this helps. Feel free to send a private message if you have more questions regarding females in ortho...Good luck.
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A few years ago the Albert Einstein/Montefiore Ortho program in New York City was presented with an award from some female orthopaedic organization since this residency has trained more females than any other program.

Tough question...the answer depends on how you define "women-friendly".

I am a chief resident graduating from NYU-HJD...and I am a woman. We currently have 4 female residents (58 residents total). Although we do not have a huge number of female residents, it is not for lack of trying. Our program consistently rank women highly in the match. For some reason they choose not to come. (2 or 3 years ago we had 6 women ranked in our top 10). I have heard a lot of feedback from medical students that the word on the street is that NYU-HJD is not "women friendly". When I first started I was only 1 of 2 female resident, and I admit at times I felt a little isolated. But now there are 3 other great residents who I can share my "unique" perspective with. We also have several women attendings who are excellent role models. I truly believe NYU-HJD is a great residency training program that is gender-neutral.

I also spent time at University of Washington in Seattle. Over the past several years that program has matched a number of women. My experience there was nothing but positive and I would suggest that it is another "woman-friendly" program.

I have discussed the issues of being a woman in Orthopaedics at length with many of my female colleagues. It is unlikely that you will find a program where you are a majority. The reality is that women in Ortho are still a minority. And no matter where you go you will find collegues and faculty who are more supportive than others. At times you will need "tough skin" and you will probably have to put up w/ a lockerroom atmosphere. But although this can be taxing, you will come to appreciate it b/c it means you are viewed as an equal/friend/colleague. In fact, you may find the biggest challange is getting people to treat you "as well" as you co-residents (who are males) and not give you preferential treatment because you are a woman.

Congratulations on your decision to pursue a career in Orthopaedics. Your residency will be physical demanding and mentally challenging, but Orthopaedics is an evolving art/science that will continue to stimulate your intellect. Even more importantly...it is fun. Feel free to send a private message or inquiry regarding women in orthopaedics.
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HSS usually tries to take about 2 females per year, and makes strong efforts to treat the male and female residents equally.

Harvard matched 4 girlies this year. UMass has a bunch of people that are penile challenged

UTSouthwestern has a good number of women residents, averaging one per year in the last several years. They even matched a pregnant one in 2002 (though I'm not sure they knew she was pregnant until after the match). When I was an ms4 there they had 4 or 5 women in the top two classes (pgy4 and 5). The program does have a pretty locker-room like atmosphere from my memory, but being female certainly won't reflect poorly on you there. Three of the faculty are female.

I'm at SLUH, where we have one pgy3 woman and two of our 3 incoming interns are women. Two of our faculty are women.

That's about all I remember.

Good luck, and don't let your gender affect your plans. It doesn't matter in the long run as long as you work hard.