VIDEO: After more than 100 years of advocacy, gender inequities persist in medicine

CHICAGO — In 1915, the American Medical Women’s Association became the first national organization of women physicians.

More than 100 years later, Theresa Rohr-Kirchgraber, MD, FACP, FAMWA, the current president of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), said one would think that women’s medical organizations would no longer be needed — that there would be equity in terms of leadership, patient care and clinical research. That is not the case.

“There is a need for empowerment of women physicians to keep us practicing and loving the career that we chose,” Rohr-Kirchgraber told Healio. “There is a need for support so that we develop the skills needed to take on further leadership roles, or even to just continue in medicine. There is always an area of AMWA that is encouraging the development and further investigation of sex and gender and its role in health and disease.”

In this video recorded at the ACP Internal Medicine Meeting, Rohr-Kirchgraber discusses biases in health care and why organizations like AMWA are still needed today.

Reference:

AMWA’s history of success. https://www.amwa-doc.org/about-amwa/history/. Accessed May 5, 2022.