The majority of students pursuing global health careers are female, but less than a quarter of leadership roles in the field belong to women.
During a recent interaction with a clinical adviser in Cameroon, one member of global health’s sliver of women leaders — Dr. Elaine Abrams — looked as the woman pointed out her son’s school. She lived right nearby, she told Abrams, allowing her to drop him off in the mornings, walk to work and travel quickly to pick him up if a problem arose. She heard of the same story, Abrams said, when she visited women health workers in Mozambique.
“These are the microdecisions that women are making every day in global health to balance work and careers,” explained Abrams, professor of epidemiology and pediatrics at Columbia University, Monday at the Weill Cornell Center for Global Health’s Women in Global Health Symposium in New York City.
About the author
Kelli Rogers@kellierin
Kelli Rogers has worked as an Associate Editor and Southeast Asia Correspondent for Devex, with a particular focus on gender. Prior to that, she reported on social and environmental issues from Nairobi, Kenya. Kelli holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, and has reported from more than 20 countries.
