On March 8, women all over the world will be recognizing International Women’s Day, a time to celebrate the accomplishments of women, past and present, as well as to acknowledge the distance to equality that remains to be traversed. At the UAB School of Medicine, the Office for Diversity and Inclusion will recognize this landmark day with a Women in Medicine Lecture and Luncheon, featuring Deborah Deas, M.D., MPH, interim dean of the Medical University of South Carolina. Deas is senior associate dean for medical education and professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. She has served as the interim dean since September 2014, and played a pivotal role in the development of the MUSC strategic plan for diversity that launched in 2002. She will discuss the ways in which women in medicine have made tremendous strides and highlight the challenges women still confront in medical professions.
The lecture and luncheon will be held at noon on Tuesday, March 8 at the UAB National Alumni Society House. All School of Medicine faculty are welcome to attend and should RSVP to medevents@uab.edu.
International Women’s Day was officially launched in 1909, following spontaneous strikes by garment workers in New York City, and became a platform for demanding women’s right to vote and hold public office, to receive vocational training and end job discrimination. Although recognized annually by women throughout the world, it was not until 1975 did the United Nations formally began celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8.
This global celebration takes on a particular meaning for the UAB School of Medicine, as the Office for Diversity and Inclusion focuses attention on gender equity in the medical professions. “Pledge for Parity” is the theme of the 2016 International Women’s Day, which parallels the commitment of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion to advance excellence through diversity, inclusion and equity.