One of Britain's leading female surgeons has compared operating theatres to "an old boys' club" in a plea to make them more friendly for women.
Jyoti Shah, a consultant urological surgeon at Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said a culture change was needed in theatres to end what she called a "hostile environment" for women.
Ms Shah told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Surgery still remains very male dominated, and it does still appear as an old boys' club and you're very much an outsider as a woman.
"You're trying to break into their gang almost, and that culture is quite engrained in surgery."
Figures show just 11% of surgical consultants in England are female - about 800 in total.
Ms Shah added: "I know one woman who as she was operating, she leant over and the consultant whom she was operating with very gently brushed against her breast.
"More subtle forms are being referred to as 'the nurse', being in a meeting with men and being the only woman and you're asked to make the tea."
The first female president of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS), Clare Marx, said there was a fine line between a joke and sexist abuse.
Ms Marx said: "We have to be very careful that there isn't a confusion between a manner of speaking and something that is rightly offensive."
In a 2013 survey, 68% of newly qualified UK female doctors believed surgery was not a career that welcomed women.
Additional reporting by the Press Association
