WHERE THE PIPELINE LEAKS AND DELAYS: GENDERED ACADEMIC DYNAMICS IN ANATOMY IN TÜRKİYE

AbstractBackground This study examines gender representation across the academic anatomy pipeline in Türkiye, fromgraduate education and thesis authorship to academic faculty ranks, and aims to identify where gender disparitiesemerge.Methods Data were obtained from three national open-access sources: annual reports on the numbers of master’sand doctoral students in anatomy programs (2015–2025), all anatomy theses published between 1969–2024, andthe distribution of academic staff in anatomy departments as of March 2025. Gender was classified using publiclyavailable institutional and academic profiles. These datasets were examined comparatively to map longitudinalpatterns from training to senior academic ranks.Results A total of 1,657 theses were included; women accounted for 57.2% of authors, and their proportionincreased from 42.9% in early decades to 64.8% in 2020–2024 (p<0.001). Between 2015–2025, women’s representationrose from 58.2% to 69.7% in master’s programs and from 40.1% to 54.7% in doctoral programs. Despite strongrepresentation of women at trainee levels, only 31% of professors in 2025 were women, while their representationwas markedly higher among research assistants (74.4%) and lecturers (69.6%). Academic rank and gender weresignificantly associated (p<0.001), indicating progressive attrition of women along the academic pathway.Conclusions Although women enter the anatomy field in Türkiye in strong numbers and successfully completegraduate training, this increasing representation does not translate into senior academic positions. These findingsshow that women’s strong early-stage presence fails to reach senior ranks, exposing both clear leakage andsuggesting marked delayed advancement in the academic pipeline