International Women’s Day: Levelling the Playing Field
By: Brooklyn Ward
“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.”
Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day (IWD), a day to recognize and celebrate the economic, cultural, social, and political achievements of women and girls. It serves as a reminder of the progress made towards gender equality, and the work that remains to be done. “Today, International Women's Day is a day of unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy, and action and is celebrated in many countries worldwide.” [1]
The 2022 IWD campaign theme is #BreakTheBias, encouraging people to actively call out gender bias, discrimination, and stereotyping. We must actively call out gender bias when we see it in all areas of life as a way of paving the way for future generations of women and girls and achieving gender equity around the world.
The 2022 IWD #BreakTheBias pose, arms crossed to show commitment to calling out bias, smashing stereotypes, breaking inequality, and rejecting discrimination. Images retrieved from: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Theme.
Gender Inequalities and Women’s Health
One of the missions for this year’s IWD campaign is to empower women’s choices in health. “Due to the historical legacy of gender-based injustice, the health consequences of gender inequality fall most heavily on women” [2]. To empower women, it is necessary to acknowledge the gender-related health inequalities that women face and the ways in which this impacts our wellbeing. Gendered health inequalities, stem from traditional societal expectations for women. These traditional roles (caretaking, childbearing, and a historical of lack of autonomy) have been imbedded in traditional medical practices and affect women’s health and the care they receive, particularly in the areas of maternal care, primary healthcare, family planning and access to safe abortion services. [3]
Gender also plays a role in mental health, with important differences in the likelihood that women may be diagnosed with particular illnesses, their experiences of living with this illness and the impact that this has on their daily lives. Below are statistics that highlight mental health challenges that affect women more prominently.
47% of women were considered at high risk of developing mental health disorders, compared to 36% of men. [4]
Women are nearly twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with depression and women who have experience childhood trauma such as sexual abuse and physical violence are 3 to 4 times more likely to encounter depression as adults. [5]
25.7% of young women have self-harmed – more than twice the rate of young men. [6]
Estimates published by WHO indicate that globally about 1 in 3 (30%) of women worldwide have been subjected to either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime this negatively affects women’s mental health. [7]
The mental health needs of women differ from those of men, and therefore warrant specific attention. Evidence suggest that women tend to use mental health services more than men and a wider range of treatment and support options would benefit women. [8] A report put out by the British Colombia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (2012) suggests a women’s mental health strategy that would provide evidence-based strategies that could improve the mental health systems in Canada by:
Making recommendations about the kinds of mental health services that should be covered under provincial healthcare plans and the kinds of funds needed to provide these.
Recommending that the federal government mandate provincial/territorial resource allocation for services and supports for women with mental illness that take into account current reforms (e.g., the shift of care from institutions to the community).
Making recommendations for support and treatment models for women that take into account the intersections between mental illness, addictions, poverty, homelessness, and past and present experiences of physical and sexual violence.
Making recommendations about utilizing and expanding the evidence base with respect to the mental health needs of diverse groups of women (racialized women, new Canadians, etc.)
Providing the tools to assist policymakers, health planners, and researchers in applying a gender-based analysis to their work and developing women-centered mental health care models.
Suggesting consumer involvement models that would actively engage women in decision-making processes.
Addressing all the ways in which the health of women can be improved is beyond the scope of this short blog post, however the recommendations above highlight the importance of health equity to the lives of women. Social and economic policies to create change on a larger scale are crucial, but increasing gender equality in domains such as work, education, and family life is equally important. [2] Strategies to eliminate gender inequalities must involve efforts to improve the status of women as a means improve health and diminish inequities. [3]
Building Workplaces Where Women Thrive, The STEM Gap & Women in Research
Another mission for this year’s IWD is forging an inclusive work culture where women thrive in their careers and where their achievements are celebrated. Alongside this, a secondary mission highlighted this year is to celebrate digital advancement and champion the women shaping innovation through technology. This is tied to increasing representation of women, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as well. Women in research and Science is a topic that is meaningful to me personally, an aspiring Scientist interested in pursuing research and academia. I would love to see more women in Principal Investigator roles, chair positions and decision-making roles. In my personal experience, women are underrepresented in these roles, and we should create more opportunities for women to pursue these pathways. Though I am lucky enough to work with intelligent, lovely women that make up 75% of our lab currently, this is not the reality for most in varying STEM fields. Women make up 28% of the STEM workforce and are outnumbered in most STEM fields in post-secondary studies. “Girls and women are systematically tracked away from science and math throughout their education, limiting their access, preparation and opportunities to go into these fields as adults.” [9] To close these gaps we must give girls the confidence to succeed in scientific fields by improving STEM education for girls in early education (Kindergarten to Grade 12). We must attract, recruit, and retain women in these positions by improving the job hiring processes, promotion pathways, and creating intentionally inclusive work cultures. [9]
Gender diversity in the workplace generally leads to creativity, transformation, and adaptability to change. Female researchers in male-dominated fields contribute novel insights and discoveries that advance the science industry. The domains of such “gendered innovations” predominantly include healthcare, technology, and engineering, among others. [10] Though we know that women in science, research, and technology both diversify and benefit organizations, we still see a lack of inclusivity in these spaces. [10] Some good news – the number of published women scientists starting their publishing career has increased nearly one fifth between 2000 and 2016, but the gap is still striking. Now is as good a time as ever to create work cultures that are inclusive and supportive of women and encourage them to get involved in STEM professions and take up space in whatever field they desire.
It is crucial that we create the space for conversation, support, education, and leadership opportunities for women. Calling out biases is central to this work as is providing women with equal opportunities to be promoted, develop their skills, and close the pay gap. Providing women equal opportunities to their male counterparts to be promoted, develop their skills and close the pay gap. In doing so, we take steps in creating workplaces where women not just survive but thrive. It is crucial that we include women’s voices in places where decisions are being made.
We must push on and continue to fight the good fight, #breakthebias, and celebrate women not only today, but every day.
References
[1] Women and Gender Equality Canada. (2022, January 18). International Women's Day. Government of Canada. Retrieved March 1, 2022, from https://women-gender-equality.canada.ca/en/commemorations-celebrations/international-womens-day.html.
[2] Gupta, G. R., Oomman, N., Grown, C., Conn, K., Hawkes, S., Shawar, Y. R., Shiffman, J., Buse, K., Mehra, R., Bah, C. A., Heise, L., Greene, M. E., Weber, A. M., Heymann, J., Hay, K., Raj, A., Henry, S., Klugman, J., & Darmstadt, G. L. (2019). Gender equality and gender norms: Framing the opportunities for health. The Lancet, 393(10190), 2550–2562. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(19)30651-8
[3] Vlassoff C. (2007). Gender differences in determinants and consequences of health and illness. Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition, 25(1), 47–61.
[4] Chal, C. (2017). These 3 groups are at ‘high risk’ of mental health issues in Canada. Here’s why. Global News. Retrieved on January 25, 2019 from https://globalnews.ca/news/3415871/these-3-groups-are-at-high-risk-of-mental-health-issues-in-canada-heres-why/
[5] World Health Organization (n.d). Gender Disparities in Mental Health. Retrieved on March 3, 2022 from https://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/242.pdf?ua=1
[6] Agenda Alliance for Women & Girls at Risk (n.d.). Women’s Mental Health Facts. Retrieved on January 25, 2019 from https://weareagenda.org/womens-mental-health-key-facts/#
[7] World Health Organization. (2021, March 9). Violence against women. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women
[8] Mainstreaming Women’s Mental Health Building a Canadian . (2012). Retrieved Feb 25, 2022, from https://bccewh.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/2003_Mainstreaming-Womens-Mental-Health-Building-a-Canadian-Strategy.pdf
[9] The stem gap: Women and girls in Science, Technology, engineering and Mathematics. (2021, December 2). AAUW. . Retrieved Feb 28, 2022, from https://www.aauw.org/resources/research/the-stem-gap/
[10] Ellemers, N. (2014). Women at Work: How Organizational Features Impact Career Development. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1(1), 46–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732214549327