Our allies from Orbis, celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day with the following motto “world with gender equality”, a world free of prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination. A diverse, equitable and inclusive world where differences and uniqueness are valued and celebrated. This is the world that Women In Ophthalmology (WIO), Seva Foundation and Orbis envision, partnering to create opportunities in the #BreakTheBias ophthalmology community.
Prejudice and gender discrimination continue to be barriers to creating a more equitable and equal world within the eye health community. Women experience visual impairments disproportionately at higher rates than men, in part because they live longer, making them more likely to experience age-related eye conditions, but also due to less access to care services ophthalmologic.
This lack of access has a direct link to the bias women face. Within the medical field, women make up 25-30% of ophthalmologists and 25-45% of trainees globally, but are underrepresented in key positions.
This is not an uncommon pattern within the medical community, where there are clear examples of the underrepresentation of female physicians in numerous specialties and among professional award winners. To acknowledge these statistics and findings is to see both the need and the potential for change. But it will take a movement: a collective, collaborative and inclusive human movement to #BreakTheBias effectively.
