The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (
ESCMID) formed a
Parity Commission in 2010 to address barriers and facilitators for women and minorities in the fields of clinical microbiology and infectious disease. To further their mission, the Commission has started an important new blog called "Leveling the Field."
The first post titled "
Between Privilege and Merit" was written by Dr. Angela Huttner, the current advocate for gender. The plan is for her colleagues on the Commission to contribute future posts. Their aim is to "convey the voices of all" involved and they invite us to contact them with our thoughts and experiences. If future posts are half as good as Dr. Huttner's, this blog will be one to check in on often.
Barriers exist outside of infectious diseases and microbiology and Nisha Mehta's recent post on KevinMD titled,
"Why are female physicians scared to be women?" provides a description of many issues. And these are not confined to medical fields - I would point you to this excellent post by Sarah Bond, an assistant professor in the UI Classics Department titled "
The Decline and Fall of the All-Male Panel."
I would just close with a question - is it time for a similar platform in the U.S.?
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