Advancing women in science, medicine, and global health
Gender equity is not only a matter of justice and rights, it is crucial for producing the best research and providing the best care to patients. If the fields of science, medicine, and global health are to hope to work towards improving human lives, they must be representative of the societies they serve. The fight for gender equity is everyone’s responsibility, and this means that feminism, too, is for everybody—for men and women, researchers, clinicians, funders, institutional leaders, and, yes, even for medical journals.
— The Lancet
The February 9, theme issue on advancing women in science, medicine, and global health, contains new international evidence on forms of gender bias in funding; women’s attrition in clinical training programmes; the extent to which universities worldwide have actualised their public commitments to gender and ethnic diversity; and the relationship between women’s leadership in science and the production of sex/gender-related research.
New analysis and commentary establish the importance of feminist and masculinity theories, and problematise organisational strategies for increasing gender diversity in medicine and science. The importance of intersectionality, learning from the Global South, and the under-recognition of women’s experience of harassment and abuse are key themes.
Collectively, the theme issue lays out robust evidence to inform an action plan for institutional leaders to confront gender bias, improve diversity and inclusivity, and drive change. Strategies to redress inequalities are not just women’s issues—they require the full participation of everyone in deeper explanations and solutions.
Read the special theme issue of The Lancet on advancing women in science, medicine, and global health.
The theme issue kicked off a deep commitment by The Lancet to advance gender equality. Our commitment to these issues does not end with the publication of our theme issue. We will continue to publish relevant content in 2019 and beyond, please look out for relevant content in our journals.
