On March 8, 1857, hundreds of women working in New York City’s textile industry took to the streets in protest of unfair working conditions and unequal rights. Despite being the first recorded action by working women anywhere in the world, it did not make the front page of the New York Times.
But it did spark a movement. In 1910, March 8 was officially designated as International Women’s Day. It has grown into a global celebration of the historical, cultural, and political achievements of women while also calling attention to gender inequality. The theme of 2023’s International Women’s Day is Embrace Equity. It is a call to action, pushing for an inclusive world.
Women’s Health Research at Yale has embraced equity since its inception in 1998 when it was founded to address the gap in “knowledge data” in women’s health.
Prior to the mid-1990s, women were generally not included as participants in research studies, and the data derived on men were applied to women’s health. These ground rules changed 136 years after women took to the streets to fight for their health and safety when the National Institutes of Health, the largest single-funder of biomedical research, began requiring women be included in the studies that shape our health.
For 25 years, WHRY has initiated and funded research studies on conditions of high morbidity and mortality in women – studying conditions ranging from cancers to dementias, cardiovascular disorders to autoimmune illnesses. By focusing the lens of research on these many topics, we have broadened the scope of women’s health and gained greater understanding of how biology and social variables affect our health. With that information, science and medicine can tailor care allowing each of us to live a healthier life.
The landscape of scientific research has been forever changed by examining the differences between and among women and men and considering sex as a biological variable and the influence of gender on health. Just as inclusivity changed working conditions, the data gathered from inclusive research studies is improving health care.
This International Women’s Day, we celebrate the women who fought for equity, and we acknowledge the work is not over. We hope you’ll join us in the search for information to make health care representative of us all.