Local women speak on the importance on inclusivity in education and medicine
National Women's Equality Day
DELMARVA – Women’s Equality Day is a time to recognize the courage of generations of visionaries who fought to work toward a more equitable future for women and girls in America. This is also time to learn more about the challenges women face in the workplace, and how systems in place can be changed to make things equitable across the board.
Over 100 years ago, women were only allowed to be schoolteachers, clerks, or nurses. Now, women can be seen running their own practices, and the head of colleges and universities. The right to earn a fair and equal wage, the right to be educated, and the freedom to vote- these are rights women have been demanding for centuries. Vice President of Student Experience at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Latoya Jenkins says it takes women to help women. “When I look at the numbers of staff that serve our students, within my division, over 46% are women, and these women serve in various leadership capacities.”
Jenkins tells us it’s women like Wanda Holmes, Dr. Joyce Bell, and Dean Harris, who’ve shaped UMES into what it is today. She says Dr. Heidi Anderson, the President of the University, who also happens to be a woman, is the reason they are adequately represented and compensated. “In Dr. Anderson’s time, she has done studies to look at the salaries of women across the campus. Not just to ensure that we have equity, but to ensure that we are also represented in a myriad of leadership roles.”
Adequate pay is also something that has been debated in the medical field for many years according to Meghan Walls, a Pediatric Psychologist for Nemours Children’s Health. “This day marks the days when women got the right to vote, but I think what we know is that women had a lot of catching up to do… My belief is that as a female health care provider, also as a leader, I run a division, that my responsibility is to ensure when we hire new women into the workforce, that we’re asking questions about equitable pay and those types of things.”
In many fields, women are often underrepresented, and Meghan says diversity helps with overall care. “It’s really important for young girls, adolescents, young women, to see women health care providers. And I think that’s also across the board, not just in psychology.” Jenkins says, we can only be what we see, “Our student’s need to see what they want to mirror.”
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore wants to encourage all of their new and returning students to register to vote if you haven’t already. If you’re interested in seeing how “Hawks Vote” and what the campus is doing this election season, please visit their website.
