'It's just plumbing that we do - new pipes for old'

Pride Of Britain Lifetime Achievement award winner Dame Averil Mansfield on her inspiring and boundary-pushing career as a surgeon

- LISA BLAKE

”Women surgeons are as good as men surgeons and nothing should stand in our way.”

Dame Averil Mansfield, who was appointed the UK’s first female professor of surgery 30 years ago, is still sending a defiant message as she receives the Pride Of Britain Lifetime Achievement award.

The formidable Averil, now 86, has had a remarkable medical career, which saw her defy the odds to qualify as a consultant in 1972 at the age of 35. At the time, less than 0.5% of those in the profession were women.

In 1991, she was invited to set up an organisation through the Royal College Of Surgeons, called Women In Surgical Training, which later became Women In Surgery, to “encourage, enable and inspire” other females to follow her lead. Throughout her career, her motto was “lift as you climb”.

With more than 6,000 members today, the organisation – which also welcomes medical students – is thriving. But while the statistics of women in surgery have increased to 17% today, male consultant surgeons still outnumber females by a ratio of 8:1.

“There is still a long way to go,” Averil says, highlighting the need for support for women when it comes to juggling the demands of a career in medicine with family life.

“It’s pretty obvious there are real difficulties in getting childcare. It’s the difficulty in finding it and paying for it because it’s become a real expense and in some cases takes up every bit that women earn. Also, it’s important to understand that it is a perfectly proper and reasonable career for a woman to pursue – we are just the same as men.”

PAVING THE WAY