Background Gender equity remains an issue at the forefront of medicine. The Royal Australian College of Surgeons (RACS) has implemented systems encouraging gender representation across training and fellowship. Surgical training places merit on academic and scholarly contributions, undertaken through publication and presentations at scientific meetings. This study investigates gender division in open-paper presentations and awards at annual surgical meetings across Australia over 4 years. Methods A retrospective review of open paper presentations across major annual surgical meetings in Australia from 2020-2024 was conducted. Data was collected through open-access reports. Gender was correlated using publicly available databases. Variables included gender of presenters, award recipients, subspecialty and conference. Descriptive statistics were used to assess gender distribution. Results Male presenters represented 60% of open-papers compared to 40% for females. Males accounted for 68% of awards compared to 32%. There was no correlation to subspecialty or state. The 2023 RACS annual workforce report indicates 83% of current fellows are male. Conclusion Female and non-binary presenters at Australian scientific surgical meetings are increasing. While females continue to be under-represented compared to males, this is reflective of the current gender distribution within the RACS surgical workforce and trainee cohort. The trend is encouraging as it reflects an increase over the last five years in line with RACS strategies to diversify surgical specialties. As academic success is encouraged in selection, opportunities and programs further supporting female researchers should be considered