What better time than Women’s History Month to highlight the many initiatives lifting up women in our health IT industry.
It has been 10 years since I started speaking out more publicly as a health IT professional about women’s issues though I am a long-time feminist having come of age during the women’s movement of the 1970s. In 2014, I was asked to do a keynote talk on a topic of my choice at a 200-person health IT conference. It was one of those vendor sponsored, invitation only events. I was the speaker during the first night’s dinner. I titled my talk: “Our Future Workforce – Unlocking the Potential”. I talked about the fact that not enough women were going into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields and the need to encourage and support women at all levels. Prior to the talk I wrote this post – Technology, where are all the women? – and afterwards I wrote this one describing the positive response to my talk – Women and technology, part 2 – from an audience that was probably 80% men!
When I launched this blog several months before that talk in 2014, I made sure to create a category called “On Women and Work” knowing I’d be periodically writing about women’s issues, and not just in March each year.
Fast forward to 2024. I am certainly not a lone voice in our industry. Many women focused initiatives have emerged. Here are just a few to highlight:
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- Bluebird Leaders was founded in recent years by Rebecca Woods with a mission “to advance and accelerate the role of women in information technology and healthcare information technology”.
- Like a Girl Media was founded by Joy Rios as a podcast agency dedicated to elevating women’s voices in healthcare. This new venture is built on her 5 years of success with the HIT Like a Girl podcast which has as a mission “to celebrate women leaders, advocate for, and create more paths to leadership positions for girls and young women to follow”.
- CHIME has a League of Women Series and Luncheon at the annual CHIME Fall Forum.
- Last but not least, our New England HIMSS Chapter hosts an annual women’s event. This year it’s coming up soon on Wednesday March 27th – Empowering Women & Diversity in Tech: Strategies for Career Advancement | HIMSS. I’m honored to be moderating what I expect will be an insightful panel discussion. I’ve included links below to some of the articles we’ve been sharing with each other in preparation for the panel. Hope to see my New England readers there including our male allies!
In closing, I’m sharing what I posted on LinkedIn back on March 8:
Today is International Women’s Day – not a federal holiday, a Hallmark card kind of holiday, or a day for retail holiday deals. But one worthing noting! This year’s theme is #InspireInclusion. With so many in this country wanting to deny the importance of DEI or end it all together, and the ongoing struggle for women to have control over their own bodies and protect reproductive rights, we can’t just give lip service to a day like today.
On the International Women’s Day website the 2024 theme is explained simply as: “When we inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion, we forge a better world. And when women themselves are inspired to be included, there’s a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment. Collectively, let’s forge a more inclusive world for women.
We still have a lot of work to do. But we are stronger together. When women rise, we all rise.
Related Posts and Resources:
Women in tech statistics: The hard truths of an uphill battle | CIO
Women in STEM say gender wage gaps, promotion bias persist | HR Dive