Session 2
Workshops
2:40-3:35
If you can see her, you can be her
Brittany Ladson
Gender inequality in medicine is a complex matter. Issues ranging from representation, treatment, and acknowledgment in the medical field affect women in training and beyond. As a new 3rd year medical student at COM, I’ve started my hospital rotations. This has changed my perspective in medicine from book work to actual health care administration. With this change has come the greater appreciation of flagrant sexism in health care. Issues go beyond being addressed as a nurse versus a physician among patients. Unfortunately, this is something I prepared myself for. However, I didn’t expect for similar pre-judgements to be made by other caregivers. Like gender roles in a household or politics, the idea of a woman’s role in medicine has become engrained in our society. Simply put, the man is the physician and the woman is the nurse. I don’t mean this as any disrespect to nurses, they truly are the backbone of every hospital. However, it’s clearly challenging for society to recognize a female as a physician at first assumption. The public’s thoughts are reflexively opposite. It was best said by Ruth Bader Ginsberg when asked about women in the Supreme Court, “When there are nine, people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that." Where there are issues with representation, discrimination and mistreatment follow. In an effort to combat this, 3 year ago, I created a blog, “My Miles to Medicine,” where I document my journey as a woman in medicine. My goal is to empower other aspiring female physicians to reach their goals. Like in all fields, “If you see her, you can be her.” Women need examples of other strong females in their field as a source of advice and inspiration. A woman’s innovation and special care bring a unique perspective to medicine, the health of patients relies on it.
Changing the Script as Feminist Professionals
Gabby Wahla & Christina Igl
In this session, participants will hear from two young professionals about their experiences as feminists in the workplace. We will define feminine versus feminist leadership and critically examine expectations of young womxn in the professional world. Then, we will discuss common workplace challenges and guide participants to develop methods to effectively and professionally respond to these different behaviors or situations which are a result of our patriarchal society. These scenarios provide the opportunity to develop tools to dismantle these “norms” as a community.
Pad the Mitten's Efforts to End Period Poverty
Kathleen Williams
Period poverty is when a menstruator does not have adequate access to period products. This is especially an issue in places such as schools, prisons, and homeless shelters. In my presentation, I will be talking about the menstrual movement and Pad the Mitten's efforts to end period poverty. I will also discuss the many subdivisions of the menstrual movement such as its political and educational advocacy efforts and its belief in being gender inclusive.
Voting101
Jason Wright & Michael Allensworth
This presentation will be about the importance of voting, how to register to vote, how to check if you are registered, where to learn about the candidates, and different voting options.