In the business world, affinity groups are communities that are formed around a shared interest, goal, or identity. According to TopMBA, 90% of Fortune 500 companies have affinity groups.¹ The creation of women’s affinity groups (WAGs) has been prevalent in industries where women are striving for equity and inclusion. These groups are common in business and technology sectors, and are now filtering into academic urology. The first WAG in urology is the SWIU (Society of Women in Urology), which was informally started in 1980 when 5 women gathered at the annual urological meeting. It officially formed in 1992, and has grown to now include over 1,000 members. SWIU has created community, fostered mentorship, and promoted women within the field.

Affinity groups have the power to promote diversity and inclusion, and to further the professional goals of underrepresented groups. Operating within subspecialty societies has the added benefit of promoting women in their organizational structure. In 2018, a group of women in prosthetic urology held an insight panel and highlighted the unique practice challenges that women urologists face in male sexual medicine. They have since dedicated their mission to engaging women in the field, increasing industry collaborations, and promoting an event highlighting woman in prosthetic urology at the Sexual Medicine Society of North America’s (SMSNA) annual meeting each fall. In 2021 with the support of an industry relationship, the establishment of a fellowship training grant through the SMSNA was created that funds $70,000 in training for women in prosthetic urology. Additionally, the SMSNA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee was formed in 2022 to develop strategic initiatives within the SMSNA to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion among underrepresented groups, including women, to further improve representation in all aspects of the field of sexual medicine within the organization and at large.

In 2019, the Women in Urologic Oncology (WUO) officially formed within the Society for Urologic Oncology (SUO) after meeting unofficially from 2014 onwards. This organization was codified with official bylaws sanctioned by the SUO Board of Directors in 2022. Importantly, the WUO provides travel support and research awards to women training to be urologic oncologists and provides a community founded to facilitate opportunities for formal and informal sponsorship, mentorship, and allyship for women in urologic oncology across the spectrum of their career. The WUO subsequently documented the impact of their formal designation by tracking outcomes in terms of diversity among fellowship applicants and SUO membership. Recently, at the 2022 American Urological Association meeting in New Orleans, they highlighted their success showing that the number of women SUO members increased from 17 in 2015 to 102 members in 2022 and the number of women applying for SUO fellowship increased from an average 1-3 per year in 2011-2017 to 17 in 2021. Additionally, there is increased representation of women in positions of leadership including 5/29 on the board of directors, and 2 women on the executive committee.

Given the successes of these prior initiatives, the Women in Pediatric Urology recently formed within the Society of Pediatric Urology. Despite having a larger percentage of women in the field, the majority of women in pediatric urology are junior and may lack mentorship, sponsorship, and leadership opportunities. We know from other fields, such as gynecology, that a critical mass of women does not guarantee equity and inclusion.² Strategic initiatives are imperative to help women achieve equity and inclusion within the field. Last year, the first webinar for women in pediatric urology was designed to help discuss issues pertinent to leadership and professional development. Over 11 countries were represented with 123 attendees on a Saturday morning, demonstrating a desire for space to candidly discuss these pertinent issues.³

The initial reception of subspecialty WAGs is promising, and we expect to see other subspecialties following suit. These groups highlight the individual subspecialty society’s desire to promote women within their organization, and dedication to inclusion and equity efforts.

While all of these groups are welcoming of gender diverse individuals, future efforts should strive for gender inclusion. It is important to recognize that the terminology “Women’s” groups can alienate gender diverse urologists.

Affinity groups are a powerful resource to help empower and promote women and gender diverse urologists. However, they often require buy-in from leadership and financial sponsorship to be sustainable. Specifically, WAGS are most successful when existing paradigms of leadership sponsor and bring women “to the table” by promoting them to leadership roles, speaker plenaries, and expert panels to increase representation of women within the field as a whole. These efforts are encouraging in moving the needle closer towards equity.