Women’s Equality Day

This Women’s Equality Day marks the 101st anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Nowadays, Women’s Equality Day celebrates not only that but all of the achievements and advances women have made across the country. 

However, even today, women are still underrepresented in the workplace. These inequalities are heavily felt in the scientific community, especially in medical research, where female researchers are cited significantly less than their male peers. Citations are an important part of recognition, so when male researchers are cited twice as much, it gets in the way of women’s promotions and increased pay. 

But gender bias in research doesn’t stop there, as historically, women have often been left out of clinical trials, encouraging the belief that drugs that worked for men would also work for women. Diseases and medications often affect women differently, which is why we’ve partnered with the All of Us Research Program. This effort aims to gather health information from one million or more people living in the United States to accelerate research that may improve health. The program is working to advance “precision medicine,” which will allow health care providers to tailor treatment and prevention strategies to individuals, rather than large groups. The only way to do that, though, is to provide researchers with health information that reflects the diversity of our country.

In March, we teamed up with the All of Us Research Program to present our Annual Women’s Conference in celebration of Women’s History Month. There we discussed top issues facing women in business today and real solutions to tackle obstacles women face in leadership, as well as health disparities that the community faces.   

By getting involved, you could help researchers better understand women’s health issues, what treatments work best, and ultimately work to bridge the gender gap in medical research. It is important for all of us that women be represented in every aspect of medical research, whether that be analyzing data or participating in trials. You can learn more about the program and how to join here.