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Tag: Women's History Month

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Photograph of the Washington Monument and blooming cherry blossom trees.
Photo by Bryant's Juarez

Washington D.C. has been home to many influential and powerful women. Whether they were born in the city or moved to the capital during the course of their lives, many women who helped shape the country lived in and formed communities in D.C. The stories of the following three women provide a glimpse into the ways in which women contributed to the well-being of the city and the broader country! 

Charlotte Dupuy:

Born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland to Rachel and George Stanley, Charlotte Dupuy (nee Stanley) was an enslaved woman who petitioned the U.S. Circuit Court of the District of Columbia for her freedom. When Charlotte was a child, she, her mother and two siblings were enslaved to Daniel Parker of Dorchester County, Maryland. While Charlotte’s father was able to eventually secure freedom for his wife and two children, for unknown reasons, Charlotte was still enslaved to the Parker household. At the age of nine, Charlotte was then sold to James Condon, a local tradesman. While working for this new household, Charlotte maintained contact with her own family, but several years later, Condon moved his family from Maryland to Lexington, Kentucky, separating Charlotte from her relatives. 

While living in Lexington, Charlotte eventually met and married Aaron Dupuy, an enslaved man who worked at Ashland, the estate for Whig politician Henry Clay. After Charlotte and Aaron’s marriage, Henry Clay purchased Charlotte and she worked as a domestic servant for the Clay estate. Clay was a politician, serving in the House of Representatives in 1810 before becoming the Speaker of the House in 1817 or 1818. Clay moved his household, including Charlotte, Aaron Dupuy and their two children, to Washington D.C. When Henry Clay was appointed to the Secretary of State for the Adams administration, he once again moved his family, this time settling in the house across from the White House, now known as the Decatur House. While living in Washington D.C., Charlotte Dupuy was able to frequently visit her extended family and when Henry Clay sought to return to Kentucky years later, Charlotte resisted. A local lawyer filed a petition on Charlotte’s behalf as she attempted to seek her freedom through legal action. Charlotte Dupuy was one of many enslaved people who petitioned the courts and attempted to use legal precedents to gain their freedom. In Charlotte’s case, she argued that because her grandmother and mother were both free women, this entitled Charlotte to her freedom as well.

Photograph of the exterior of the Decatur House in Washington D.C.
The Decatur House located at the corner of H Street NW and Jackson Place. Photo Credit: National Park Service

Unfortunately, the Circuit Court ruled against Charlotte and while she resisted returning to Henry Clay’s estate, she eventually was transported to New Orleans where she worked for Clay’s daughter. Charlotte Dupuy and her daughter gained their freedom in 1840 and while records are sparse, it seems likely that she continued to live in Kentucky to remain close to her husband and other children. Charlotte Dupuy’s story is a reminder of the ways in which enslaved people actively resisted their enslavement and her story is still told to modern day visitors of the Decatur House. 

Eliza Scidmore:

Photograph portrait of Eliza Scidmore.
Photograph of Eliza Scidmore. Photo Credit: National Park Service

This week the cherry blossom trees located on the Tidal Basin and around D.C. are predicted to hit peak bloom. There are countless people to thank for bringing cherry blossoms to Washington D.C. and one figure who was most influential in the beautification process was Eliza Scidmore! 

Born in Iowa in 1856, Eliza Scidmore was an explorer, writer and editor who traveled through the Alaska Inside Passage and published the first Alaska travel guide which sparked tourism in the state. Scidmore also was a member of the National Geographic Society and sat on their Board of Managers. While she is remembered for her travel writing, one of her most lasting impacts is felt every spring when the cherry blossoms bloom.

During a visit to Japan, Scidmore was deeply impressed with the Japanese cherry trees and their flowers. When she returned to the United States, she immediately began to work to bring the trees to the States in an effort to beautify the Capital. Her efforts were initially rebuffed by the Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds. But this did not stop Scidmore. She eventually met and partnered with Department of Agriculture Plant Explorer David Fairchild who was actively engaged in his own work with the cherry blossoms. Scidmore also wrote a letter to First Lady Helen Taft who was also keen to improve the city. Scidmore’s original idea was to raise money to purchase a hundred trees each year for several years. But a Japanese chemist, Dr. Jokich Takamine, heard about Scidmore’s letter to First Lady Taft and this spiraled into multiple political and influential leaders working together to bring cherry blossom trees to the United States. 

The Japanese government first donated a shipment of about 2,000 trees but unfortunately the trees were diseased and contained bugs that American scientists feared would be harmful to native plants. The first shipment of trees were burned as a result. The Japanese government then sent another shipment of 3,020 trees and once they were approved by scientists, the trees were planted around the Tidal Basin and throughout the city. Today, less than one hundred of these original trees are still on display. But the annual blooming of the cherry blossoms serves as a reminder of Eliza Scidmore’s dedication to beautifying Washington D.C. 

Mary Ann Shadd Cary:

Black and white photograph of Mary Ann Shadd Cary.
Photograph of Mary Ann Shadd Cary. Photo via National Park Service and courtesy of National Archives of Canada

Mary Ann Shadd Cary was a major figure in the women’s suffrage movement and spent years fighting for the expansion of voting rights. 

Mary Ann Shadd Cary was born in 1823 in Delaware to a family who actively participated in the Underground Railroad and assisted people who sought to claim their freedom. After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, Mary Ann Shadd Cary and her family moved to Ontario, Canada. While living abroad, Cary opened her own schoolhouse where she taught both white and black children. She eventually married Thomas J. Cary and together they had two children.

When the American Civil War began in 1861, Cary returned to the United States and assisted the war effort by recruiting soldiers to join the Union Army. When the war ended, she moved to Washington D.C. and enrolled in Howard University’s first law school cohort. She was politically active at this time; she wrote articles for the African-American newspaper, The New National Era and encouraged Black Americans to work together to recover after the end of slavery. 

Mary Ann Shadd Cary was passionate about voting rights. During the congressional committee meetings about the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Constitutional Amendments, Cary spoke before the House Judiciary Committee and encouraged congressional leaders to ratify the amendments. She was critical of the fact that the Fifteenth’s Amendment didn’t also extend voting rights to women, but she argued that voting rights should be granted to African-American men. Cary was a member of the National Woman Suffrage Association and continued to fight for the right for women to vote, hoping to one day see voting rights be given to women. 

She lived in a brick row home located on W Street Northwest. The home is now a historic landmark, though it is not currently open to the public. A plaque outside the home shares a more detailed history about Mary Ann Shadd Cary and her efforts to uplift people within her community. 

The Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum:

Charlotte Dupuy, Eliza Scidmore and Mary Ann Shadd Cary are just a few of the many women who lived in and left their mark on Washington D.C. Landmark plagues and historical sites share stories of other women such as suffragist Lucy Burns, entrepreneur Cathy Hughes, educator Mary McLeod Bethune and more. In a few years, Washington D.C. will also be home to the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum! 

“With a digital-first mission and focus, the Smithsonian amplifies a diversity of women’s voices in a new museum and through the Smithsonian’s museums, research centers, cultural heritage affiliates, and anywhere people are online.” (About, n.d., para. 2) . 

While the physical building is not projected to open until the 2030s or later, visitors can explore their digital exhibits, collections and collection items such as ‘In Her Words: Women’s Duty and Service in World War I’, ‘Women of Public Health’ and ‘American Women Athletes’. The Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum will be an essential resource for people interested in learning more about American Women’s History and the contributions women made to the United States.

There is a long history of women investing time and energy into improving Washington D.C. and the United States as a whole. If there is a local figure you’d like to highlight during Women’s History Month, we’d love to read about it in the comments! 

References:

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Celebrated in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, March is designated as Women’s History month, and we wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the many women who changed the field of Medicine.

Mary Putnam Jacobi (1842 - 1906)

Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi, who received her education from the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania and trained in Paris, argued for coeducation for medical students.  She noted that existing women's medical schools could not provide the same clinical experience as major hospitals. Jacoby created the Association for the Advancement of Medical Education of Women to directly address inequalities. Most notably, Jacobi wrote a counter argument proving the stability of women's strength throughout their menstrual cycle which earned her Harvard's prestigious Boylston prize, and later became a powerful tool in the continued fight for women's education.

Patricia Goldman-Rakic (1937 - 2003)

Dr. Patricia Goldman-Rakic is known for mapping the prefrontal cortex region of the brain, which had been deemed too complex to research in detail prior to her achievements. Patricia's mapping illuminated critical functions of the brain such as cognition, planning, and working memory. Her research contributed greatly to our understanding of schizophrenia, ADHD, Parkinson's disease, and dementia.

Antonia Novello (1944 - )

Still with us today, Dr. Novello has served the field of medicine by being the first Hispanic, and first female U.S. Surgeon General. In her earlier work, Novello cared for critically ill children and then transitioned into the field of Public Health where she felt that she could make a greater impact on the broader population. She worked to draft the Organ Transplantation Procurement Act of 1984, which established the national registry for organ matching. She also helped author the health warnings that were added to cigarette packaging. One of her most notable contributions was her campaign that sought to end cigarette advertising to children to help combat underage smoking.

Mary Edwards Walker (1832 - 1919)

The only woman to receive the United States Medal of Honor, Mary became the first U.S. surgeon during the Civil War. In 1855, alongside her spouse, she started a Medical clinic in New York, which was unsuccessful due to the public’s lack of support for a female doctor. In 1863, after treating wounded soldiers on the front lines in Virginia, Dr. Walker’s request to practice as a surgeon was finally accepted. The following year, while assisting a Confederate doctor with surgery, she was captured as a spy. She was held in prison for four months and refused to wear women’s clothing. She was later released in 1864 and awarded the Medal of Honor by President Andrew Johnson.

Nothing stopped these brave women from contributing to medical progress. Let us take a moment to give thanks, learn about, and educate our peers about not only the astounding accomplishments of these women but about the many others who have helped to push forward the boundaries of the field of medicine.

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Images of Dr. Margaret Chung, Dr. Virginia Alexander, Henrieta Villaescusa, and Estelle Brodman.

In honor of Women’s History Month, Himmelfarb Library celebrates the lives of four influential women within the health sciences. Today, we honor: Dr. Margaret Chung, the first Chinese American woman to become a physician; Dr. Virginia Alexander, African American physician and public health expert who fought against racial discrimination in healthcare; Henrieta Villaescusa, the first Hispanic nurse appointed as Health Administrator of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare; and Estelle Brodman, a medical librarian who had a profound impact on the field of medical librarianship.

Dr. Margaret Chung: The First Chinese American Woman Physician

Image of Dr. Margaret Chung.
Public domain image retrieved from https://www.nps.gov/people/dr-margaret-mom-chung.htm

Margaret Jessie Chung, born in Santa Barbara, California in 1889 and the daughter of Chinese immigrants, dreamed of becoming a medical missionary to China from a young age. She graduated from the University of Southern California Medical School in 1916 as the first American-born Chinese female doctor (PBS, n.d.). As a medical student, Chung was the only woman in her class, and often wore masculine clothing and referred to herself as “Mike” (Wagner, 2021a). 

After graduating medical school, she was denied residencies and internships in local hospitals and was rejected from becoming a medical missionary based largely on her race (Stanford Libraries, n.d.). She moved to Chicago where she completed an internship and residency in surgery and psychiatry (Stanford Libraries, n.d.). She returned to California and accepted a staff physician position at the Santa Fe Railroad Hospital in Los Angeles where she specialized in emergency plastic surgery for victims of  railroad accidents (PBS, n.d.). She soon started a private practice that catered to the actors and musicians of Hollywood’s growing entertainment industry (Wagner, 2021a). In the early 1920s, she moved to San Francisco where she helped establish the first Western hospital in San Francisco’s Chinatown (PBS, n.d.). She led the OB/GYN and pediatrics units.

In the 1930s, during the Japanese invasion of China and the Sino-Japanese War, Dr. Chung became friends with a U.S. Navy Reserves officer, Steven G. Bancroft and his friends. The group saw her as a motherly figure and adopted her as “Mom” (Wagner, 2021a). Dr. Chung was instrumental in the creation of Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), a reserve corps for women in the Navy (Wagner, 2021a). Although WAVES helped lay the groundwork for women’s integration into the U.S. armed forces, Chung was not permitted to serve, likely a result of her race and sexuality (PBS, n.d.) and she never received credit for her efforts in WAVES creation (Wagner, 2021a).  Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, the author of Chung’s biography, wrote that Chung “was not afraid to break barriers” (Stanford Libraries, n.d.). Chung’s fearlessness in breaking down barriers paved the way for other women and minority physicians to do the same!

Dr. Virginia Alexander: Pioneer of Public Health Equity 

Image of Dr. Virginia Alexander
Photo from https://files-profile.medicine.yale.edu/images/5e62b755-ac78-4a58-ba0b-b88675a5548d

 

Virginia Alexander was born in 1899 to formerly enslaved parents in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her family faced financial hardships when she was a child. Her mother died when she was only four years old, and her father lost his livery stable when she was 13. The financial strain this placed on the family did not stop Alexander from pursuing her education, something her father was adamant that she continue. She was awarded a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania and worked as a maid, a clerk and a waitress to pay her living expenses (NIH, 2015).

She went on to medical school at the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (Wagner 2021b). During medical school, Alexander experienced racism as one of the only Black students in her class (Wagner, 2021b). After finishing medical school, Alexander had trouble landing an internship because of her race and even her own medical school’s hospital did not accept Black doctors (Wagner, 2021b). She eventually landed a position at the Kansas City Colored Hospital. 

Dr. Alexander soon returned to Philadelphia and opened up her own community health clinic out of her home, Aspiranto Health Home (NIH, 2015). The clinic focused on treating Black patients who were refused treatment from white staff in Philadelphia hospitals free of charge (Wagner, 2021b). She cared for pregnant women and young mothers, and also provided contraceptives to women free of charge (Finlay, 2020). Over five years, Dr. Alexander saw 2,000 patients and delivered 43 babies (Finlay, 2020). 

In 1935, she conducted a study on race and public health in North Philadelphia that found “shocking disparities in health outcomes among Black and white residents'' (Wagner, 2021b). Her data showed that Black babies died at more than twice the rate than that of white babies, and that Black people were dying of tuberculosis at a rate six times higher than the white population in the city (Wagner, 2021b). Her work also exposed racial discrimination in segregated wards at hospitals and linked this issue to the inequality of social conditions including inadequate sanitation in Black neighborhoods (Wagner, 2021b). 

Dr. Alexander later earned a Master’s of Public Health degree at Yale University and accepted a position at Howard University as the physician-in-charge of women students (NIH, n.d.). She advocated for the 1939 National Health Bill, an early attempt at a national health insurance system (Wagner, 2021b). During the 1940s, she served with the U.S. Public Health Service. During WWII, Alexander volunteered for the government and treated coal and iron miners who were living in extreme poverty in Birmingham, Alabama (NIH, n.d.). While there, she contracted lupus. She died in Philadelphia at the age of 49. She once said that “we will have to send physicians into sections which have no bright lights and … take public health across the railroad tracks, to serve those most in need of comfort and care” (NIH, n.d.). Dr. Alexander truly lived out this belief throughout the course of her life and incredible career!

Henrieta Villaescusa: The First Hispanic Nurse Appointed as Health Administrator

Image of Henrieta Villaescusa
Image from https://nahnnet.org/about/bios/Henrieta-Villaescusa

Henrieta Villaescusa was born in Tucson, Arizona in 1920. She attended Mercy College of Nursing in San Diego, received a Bachelor's degree from Immaculate Heart College, and a Masters Degree from UCLA (NAHN, n.d.). Villaescusa held a variety of nursing positions, and eventually worked for the Los Angeles City Health Department, where she became the only Hispanic supervising public health nurse (Pasadena Star-News, 2005). She later worked as part of the Center for Disease Control’s Hispanic/Latino subcommittee for the National Diabetic Education Program where she worked to address the needs diabetic patients in the Hispanic and Latino population (Pasadena Star-News, 2005). 

Villaescusa’s career was one of many firsts for Latino women. She became the first Hispanic nurse appointed as Health Administrator in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (NAHN, n.d.). She was also the first Mexican American Chief Nurse Consultant in the Office of Maternal and Child Health within the Bureau of Community Health Services (HAHN, n.d.). In this capacity, she identified the needs, trends, and priorities in nursing research and training (Pasadena Star-News, 2005). 

Villaescusa was also the first Hispanic to serve as the Bureau of Community Health Services’ Federal Women’s Program Manager (Pasadena Star-News, 2005). In the 1960s, she was appointed to the Alliance for Progress, making her the highest ranking Mexican American in the Bureau (Pasadena Star-News, 2005). In this capacity, her impact reached beyond the United States. She worked to improve the health of people in Latin America by partnering with the academic and community health nursing leaders to “develop nursing education programs, curricula, and collaborative partnerships with local health professionals in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Panama” (Pasadena Star-News, 2005). 

Throughout her career, Villaescusa worked closely with the National Coalition of Hispanic Health and Human Services Organization, and the Mexican American National Women's Association (NAHN, n.d.). She also served as the president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses from 1984 to 1988 (NAHN, n.d.). Among her many other accomplishments, Villaescusa served as an advisor to director of health programs with the Office of Economic Opportunity, was the the only Hispanic member of the Board of Nurse Examiners in California, and was chief nurse with the Division of Maternal and Child Health where “she was responsible for all nursing aspects of the maternal and child health programs in the country” (Pasadena Star-News, 2005). Villaescusa was truly a trailblazer and her career left a lasting impact on the field of nursing, nursing education, and healthcare!

Estelle Brodman: “A Towering Figure” within Medical Librarianship!

Image of Estelle Brodman
NLM Digital Collections (1951?). Estelle Brodman [Digital image]. National Library of Medicine Digital Collections. http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101410948

Estelle Brodman was born in New York City in 1914, and grew up in a Jewish household that placed a high value on education and learning. This love of learning served her well in her chosen field of medical librarianship. “I find learning a great joy and a great pleasure, …[others] think of learning as something they are required to do, and I think of learning as something I want to do” she stated in her oral history (Messerle, 2010). 

Brodman’s father was a physician and she and her brother both intended to follow in his footsteps. While her brother became a psychiatrist, she was not accepted to medical school despite having a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in histology and embryology (Messerle, 2010). Determined to have a career in the medical field, she ultimately decided to become a medical librarian and received a master's degree in library science from Columbia University (Messerle, 2010). 

Over the course of twelve years, she held a number of librarian positions at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Library. While serving as “Acting Librarian,” she was told that they would never make a women [head] librarian,” so she decided to get a Ph.D (MLA, 2016). She would go on to serve as the Chief of the Reference Division of the Army Medical Library, which would later become the National Library of Medicine (Messerle, 2010). 

In 1960, she was instrumental in developing and writing much of the Medical Library Assistance Act, which created regional resource libraries that were supported by the National Library of Medicine to improve medical library collections, upgrade facilities, and train medical librarians (Fee, 2015). Although the Medical Library Assistance Act was not passed until after Brodman had moved on, it had a “far-reaching impact” and contributed to the growth of medical librarianship and medical libraries (Messerle, 2010). 

Brodman later moved to Washington University in St. Louis. The position allowed her to teach, and she “was able to persuade them that just as any other department [the library] should do research and training” (MLA, 2016). Brodman developed the PHILSOM automation project, an automated serials control system, in the early 1960s (MLA, 2016). She was an early adopter of technology and later developed a training program in computer librarianship (Messerle, 2010). 

Brodman was active in professional associations including the a term as president of the Medical Library Association in 1964-65, the Special Library Association where she served as Director from 1949-1952, the NIH Biomedical Communication Study Section, History of Medicine Review Panel, the Council of the American Association for the History of Medicine, and the Presidential Commission on Libraries (MLA, 2016). She served as editor of the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association for ten years. In her work with the joint Medical Library Association/American Association of Medical Colleges Committee, she helped create guidelines for medical school libraries (MLA, 2016). When Brodman died in 2007, an article in The Journal of the Medical Library Association stated that we had lost “a towering figure of the profession” (Messerle, 2010). While she is no longer with us, her impact within the field of medical librarianship will not soon be forgotten!

 

References:

Fee, E. (October 22, 2015). The Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965. Circulating Now, National Library of Medicine website. https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2015/10/22/the-medical-library-assistance-act-of-1965/

Finlay, M. (June 2020). “Guardian of the Health of Negro Women”: The Work and Legacy of Dr. Virgina Alexander. Drexel University College of Medicine Legacy Center Archives & Special Collections Blog. https://drexel.edu/legacy-center/blog/overview/2020/june/guardian-of-the-health-of-negro-women-the-work-and-legacy-of-dr-virginia-alexander/

Medical Library Association (MLA). (March 18, 2016). MLA Oral Histories: Brodman, Estelle (PhD, AHIP, FMLA)*. MLA website. https://www.mlanet.org/blog/brodman-estelle

Messerle J. (2010). Estelle Brodman, AHIP, FMLA, 1914–2007. Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 98(1), 6–8. https://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.98.1.004 Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2801987/pdf/mlab-98-01-6.pdf

National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN). (n.d.). Henrieta Villaescusa, MPH, PN. NAHN website. https://nahnnet.org/about/bios/Henrieta-Villaescusa

National Institutes of Health. (June 3, 2015). Dr. Virginia M. Alexander Biography. https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_5.html

Pasadena Star-News. (2005, March 9). Henrietta Villaescusa Obituary. Pasadena Star-News. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/pasadenastarnews/name/henrietta-villaescusa-obituary?id=26841230

PBS (May 27, 2020). The First American-Born Chinese Woman Doctor. PBS American Masters website. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/first-american-born-chinese-woman-doctor-ysk233/14464/

Stanford Libraries (n.d.). Dr. Margaret Chung. Rise Up for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. https://exhibits.stanford.edu/riseup/feature/dr-margaret-chung

Wagner, E. (December 9, 2021b). Dr. Virginia Alexander. National Park Service website. https://home.nps.gov/people/dr-virginia-alexander.htm

Wagner, E. (October 8, 2021a). Dr. Margaret “Mom” Chung. National Park Service website. https://www.nps.gov/people/dr-margaret-mom-chung.htm

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Photo of sign that reads 'Fight Today for a Better Tomorrow' at a demonstration
(Picture provided via Markus Spikse on Pexels)

The United Nations first celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, 1975 and two years later, the international organization designated March 8 as an annual day of observation for International Women’s Day. This awareness day is celebrated in a variety of ways depending on the country. Many people use the day to honor the successes of women and various gender equality movements, while also raising awareness on the issues that continue to impact women such as pay inequality and the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and children. 

Though the UN didn’t designate March 8 as International Women’s Day until 1977, the day originated in the early 1900s during labor rights protests and the suffrage movement. “The impetus for establishing an International Women’s Day can be traced back to New York City in February 1908, when thousands of women who were garment workers went on strike and marched through the city to protest against their working conditions.” (Haynes, 2018). To honor the anniversary of these labor strikes, the first National Women’s Day was celebrated in the United States on February 28, 1909. The celebration was led by Clara Zetkin, a German organizer and socialist, who was instrumental in spreading the awareness day in Europe. Russia celebrated its first International Women’s Day in 1913, but in 1917, after suffering from poor economic and social conditions, many used the day to protest and express their outrage over the mistreatment they faced. Their strikes and protests led to Russian women gaining the right to vote that same year. Suffragists in other nations learned from the experience of the women in Russia and used similar tactics to eventually gain the ability to vote. The collaboration and solidarity of women across the world continued throughout the 1900s and their activism paved the way for International Women’s Day to become a globally recognized holiday. 

The International Women’s Day website offers resources and events to help you learn more about the day and connect with others who are invested in advocating for women’s equality. On March 8 at 2:00 pm, the National Cancer Institute will hold an event titled ‘Breaking Bias: Women in Healthcare and Science Leadership.’  On March 11 the ‘Reimagined in America: Advance Gender Equity’ event will discuss building gender equity policies and gender inclusive communities in the United States. The United Nations will also hold a virtual event on March 8 from 10:00 am- 11:30 am in celebration of International Women’s Day. The event will focus on climate change and its impact on women and children and will feature appearances from prominent international leaders and figures such as Jane Goodall and UN Leaders. Click here to register for this UN event! If you're interested in attending a local event, GWU's American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) will be holding a potluck to celebrate International Women's Day on March 8, 2022 from 12:00 pm- 1:00 pm in the Ross Hall Courtyard. Dean Bass will be a guest speaker! If you'd like to sign up to bring a dish to the potluck, use this Google Sheet.

There are many ways to observe International Women’s Day. It’s a time to reflect on the significant achievements of women around the world and the perfect time to commit to and work towards a more gender inclusive world. We hope you’ll learn more about the history of International Women’s Day or attend one of the many events that honor this holiday!

Work Cited:

Haynes, Suyin. (2018, March 8). The Radical Reason Why March 8 Is International Women’s Day. TIME Magazine. https://time.com/5187268/international-womens-day-history/

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