Women in Gastroenterology — International Women's Day 2022 #BreakTheBias
Vol. 27, Issue 1 (March 2022)
Lubna Kamani, MD
President, Pakistan GI & Liver Diseases Society
Professor of Gastroenterology & Director, GI Residency Program, Liaquat National Hospital
Consultant, Aga Khan University Hospital
Karachi, Pakistan
The 8th of March each year is celebrated across the globe as International Women’s Day (IWD) and this year‘s theme is #BreakTheBias. The first instance of a “Women’s Day” was in 1909 and was initiated by labor movements of North America and Europe. It was later recognized by the United Nations in 1977. IWD was adopted to promote equality in the workspace and reduce discrimination in terms of women in leadership roles, the gender pay gap, and violence against women.
The medical world is no stranger to the struggle of women. Traditionally, women were only able to work as midwives and were considered “too delicate” to practice other facets of medicine. This ideology was first challenged in the Victorian era. Elizabeth Blackwell was a pioneer in medicine as she was the first women that was allowed to attend medical school in 1847, after multiple rejections with one suggestion that she should disguise herself in male clothing to gain admittance.
Her action set a precedent after which many women followed their dreams of becoming physicians. Women have a similar desire to pursue a career in gastroenterology, however this is not translated due to several reasons such as lack of opportunity and female mentorship, child-bearing, patriarchy and long working hours to name a few. According to international literature, females represent only one third of gastroenterology fellows and approximately 10-15% as consultants. It has been observed by various scientific studies that gastroenterology programs with women being in a position of chief or director attracts more female trainees and also provides a good opportunity for same gender mentorship.
More than two-thirds of the world’s healthcare workers are women yet only one third are in senior leadership positions and have power of critical and impactful decisionmaking. Equality in leadership will lead to a more balanced approach in decisions regarding allocation of funds for education as well as research projects. When it comes to the promotion for women towards full-time professor rank, there is often a delay despite them having equal research articles and worked the same amount of years as compared to their male counterparts.
The current COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the already existing gender disparity. However, in these challenging times, women leaders with their perseverance, grit, and passion managed to take some bold decisions and diverge from the norm, challenging the status quo. Their pragmatic approach in turn led to successful containment of COVID cases, which might minimize the economic recession faced by their country in the future. According to the 2021 Global Gender Gap report, it will take 135.6 years to close the gender gap worldwide. As of now, no country has currently attained gender parity status despite the United Nations (UN) goal of eradicating gender disparity by 2030. The International Labour Organization approximates that during the COVID-19 pandemic 5% of all working women lost their jobs as compared to 3.9% of working men, further intensifying the gender gap.
The World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO), through their incredible commitment and vision, have made an impressive leap towards establishing inclusiveness and diversity in their committees. Professor Naima Lahbabi-Amrani, the first woman President elected from 2019-2021, had a distinct objective of having more female representation. Through her strong advocacy, she succeeded in her mission, and this year women nominated to various WGO committees and interest groups increased from 5% to 30% and five women have been appointed to the Governing Council for the next term.
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” - Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations
Imagine a world where there is complete gender parity. The reasons of gender inequality are multifactorial and complex. The fundamental way we can achieve an equal world is to break the bias and eliminate discriminatory laws. Closing the gender gap in medicine by providing equitable access to research, clinical trials and heath care will be beneficial for the society as a whole.
Through our dedication and diligence, we can persevere towards our end goal of an equal world which could potentially become one of the greatest victories of our generation.
