STEVEN D. SHAPIRO M.D.
Interim Dean, Keck School of Medicine of USC
Senior Vice President for Health Affairs,
University of Southern California
Dear KSOM Community,
Today we celebrate Women’s Equality Day — a day to commemorate the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which legally guarantees women’s right to vote — but also to highlight the continued efforts of women to achieve full equality.
We have made great strides, but there is much work to be done. Discrimination against women in health care and academic medicine persists. Women are routinely paid less than men for the same work and continue to face harassment and violence in the workplace at unacceptable rates. Many women around the world have experienced serious setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic. A report by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine highlights that “the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the productivity, boundary setting and boundary control, networking and community building, and mental well-being of women in academic STEMM.”
Women from minoritized and marginalized groups are affected disproportionately by all forms of harassment and discrimination. According to AAMC, the proportion of women from an underrepresented in medicine race or ethnicity (URiM) group was 12% in 2009 and 13% in 2018, and the greatest proportions of URiM women faculty were at the assistant professor rank.
Here at the Keck School of Medicine, we commit to working toward an equitable, safe, strong community that respects persons of all gender identities and backgrounds.
September Is Women in Medicine Month
Please join me in celebrating the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Women in Medicine month, created to recognize the growing number of women in the profession. This month provides an opportunity to both acknowledge the challenges women face in medicine and health care, and to celebrate their successes. The KSOM Center for Gender Equity in Medicine and Science (GEMS) will have several events to commemorate this month.
I invite you to join me in committing to equity for all women on our campus. To learn more, please see the resources below.
- Get involved in the AAMC’s Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS) or the AMA’s Women Physicians Section (WPS)
- Learn from NASEM’s Committee on Women in Science, Engineering and Medicine here
- Read about the AAMC’s commitment to gender equity in academic medicine
Warm regards,
Steven Shapiro, MD
Interim Dean
Keck School of Medicine of USC
SVP, Health Affairs
University of Southern California