International Women’s Day: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.
This year’s International Women's Day (IWD), taking place on 8 March 2025, carries the theme "For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment." highlighting the urgency of advancing gender equality across all sectors of society, including within global health.
To mark the day, we have compiled some recent blogs, videos and figures to highlight RSTMH’s role in advocating for a diverse, equitable, and inclusive world, where all women and girls have rights, equality and emplowerment, as we call for all women who are delivering health to be included at all levels of decision making and leadership.
Presidential Address: Our Joint Presidents
At October’s RSTMH Annual Meeting, our Joint Presidents Professor Margaret Gyapong, Professor of Applied Health Social Science and Global Health at the University of Health and Allied Sciences, and Dr Wendy Harrison, Chief Executive Officer of Unlimit Health, gave their Presidential Address.
In this, the two leaders spoke on the topic of 'Building authentic partnerships to tackle global health threats'.
Watch a recording of the Presidential Address below.
Reflecting on past discussions
Last year's RSTMH panel discussion on International Women's Day provided a platform for thought-provoking conversations on contributions to tropical medicine and global health. The panel featured discussions with leading experts in global health and tropical medicine from the RSTMH Board of Trustees. We invite you to rewatch the conversation below.
Guidance for the next generation
During the panel discussion, each of the speakers offered their own advice for the next generation of global health experts, who may be starting out in their careers today.
We have summarised their responses. Read these here.
Reflections from a female leader in health
In this blog post, Dr Wendy Harrison reflected on her experiences as a woman in global health and gives some insights for future female leaders. She said that we must “acknowledge that the responsibility for more equitable and greater power balance lies with all genders. Everyone has a crucial role to play as allies in ending the systemic bias that favours men as the default health leader.”
Insights from Professor Dame Sally Davies
Professor Dame Sally Davies, the UK's Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), is a strong leader within global health. In a recent interview, with RSTMH Chief Executive Tamar Ghosh, she discusses her work on AMR, preparations for the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance which took place last year, as well as her career. Her journey offers valuable lessons on leadership. Watch the recording below.
In conversation with Dr. Ebere Okereke
In this recording, Dr. Ebere Okereke speaks about her experiences and insights in the realm of global health. She highlights the importance of mentorship, diversity, and the actions needed to achieve gender parity in health leadership.
RSTMH Early Career Grants: Gender breakdown
The RSTMH Early Career Grants Programme has been instrumental in supporting emerging researchers. In 2024, the gender distribution of grant recipients was 54% male and 46% female, a slight shift from the previous year's 52% female and 48% male split. While this reflects a near-equitable distribution, we are aware that this balance is not commonplace within the global health space.
The 2025 Early Career Grants Programme is now open and we encourage female Early Career Grant researchers to apply, in order to maintain and continue to improve this gender breakdown. Find out more.