Equality without bias - celebrating women in leadership roles in medicine

Given the challenges of the past two years, the opportunity to mark 2022 International Women's Day and to acknowledge and celebrate female colleagues in medicine in leadership roles was too good to pass up.

Royal Australian College of Surgeons (RACS) State Chair, Dr Peter Moore, said, "it is a very important day on the calendar and one we have always been keen to celebrate. Unfortunately, because Tasmania is a smaller state, it is often very difficult to generate enough numbers to make hosting these types of events worthwhile for the Fellowship. I know the AMA and other organisations have also had the same problem.

All going well; we are hoping to make this an annual collaborative event. We will also look to combine forces for other similar events throughout the year."

International Women's Day is a global day celebrated annually to commemorate women's cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements. This year the theme is #Breakthebias.

On the morning, we are all looking forward to hearing from several inspiring women outlining their individual experiences: navigating their own careers, challenges, and goals in the health sector while at the same time attempting balance in their lives.

• Lara Giddings, former Premier of Tasmania and now AMA Tasmania CEO, graduated with an Arts/Law degree in 1998. Initially elected to the Tasmanian Parliament in 1996, Lara, at the age of 23, was the youngest woman ever elected to an Australian Parliament. After losing her House of Assembly seat of Lyons in 1998, she was re-elected to the seat of Franklin in 2002. Lara was appointed as a Minister to various portfolios, including Health and Human Services, where her interest in the health and wellbeing of Tasmanians grew.
• Dr Kerin Fielding, an associate professor with the University of Notre Dame, was the first woman in NSW to become an orthopaedic surgeon and only the third in Australia. Dr Fielding, a RACS Councillor, is passionate about working in rural and regional Australia and teaching surgery across the continuum of medical education. She coordinates the pre-vocational surgical training for the whole of NSW. Kerin has been working in surgical services in Wagga Wagga since 1992 and is an excellent example of how regional doctors can have the best of both worlds.
• Dr Hannah Lake holds the role of Clinical Director of The Hobart Clinic, having graduated in medicine from Monash University and training as a junior doctor at the Royal Hobart Hospital. She entered training as a Psychiatry Registrar after developing an interest in the intersect between psychiatry and general medicine. Hannah recently returned from two years in Melbourne, where she worked in the Department of Neuropsychiatry at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Hannah has professional interests in the health of doctors, organic brain disorders, including young onset dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders, including multiple sclerosis, encephalopathies, and Huntington's Disease. In addition to her role at The Hobart Clinic, Hannah is currently employed in old age psychiatry within the Tasmanian Health Service.

No matter what the workplace, medicine and the health sector is no different; women need to feel safe and respected and have no barriers in place to achieving their full leadership potential.

While there has been increasing awareness and policy intent in recent years, women still do not have the same opportunities as men. This is starkly reflected in the healthcare sector that remains "delivered by women and led by men", even though the healthcare sector is a primarily female workforce, the industry traditionally advances women in leadership at a glacial pace

“As a woman who has had to navigate the health and academic system for decades, balancing parenting alongside medical administration and clinical careers, I can attest to the entrenched barriers and problems facing women achieving leadership roles in these sectors," confirms Dr Annette Barratt speaking on behalf of AMA Tasmania President Dr Helen McArdle.

The medical profession has made considerable advances in promoting women's careers in medicine, but there is room for more.

Finally, Dr Moore added, "we acknowledge considerable work remains to support women to achieve their leadership goals within the medical profession. However, the industry can be proud of the achievements of women in the health care sector. On IWD 2022 and beyond we pay tribute to the profession for its developing approach towards achieving fairness and gender equality.">>>ENDS.