Thread by @QaaliHussein1

About three years ago, attending a women’s empowerment conference made me swear off of going to anymore women’s empowerment conferences…a 🧵

It began as a great conference focused on empowering women to advance in medicine. All the gaps were addressed. Gender pay gap, research funding gap, awards gap, leadership gap. Great! We’re moving beyond pay disparity!

Or so I thought.

After hearing the keynote and most of the prime time lectures, I was perplexed. I know all these topics are important. But as this was a conference filled with women from all backgrounds, I felt there was something missing.

We were essentially focusing on issues of the white women who’ve made it to the top of the ladder.

These were not the issues of the majority of women who were facing racism or any other type of discrimination. The women who are being pushed off the ladder or can’t eve get on it.

So I shared my experiences of navigating through medicine as a Black hijabi Muslim woman with strong maternal instincts who was almost pushed out because of my values and beliefs.

I asked what we can do so that no one has to go through similar experiences and the trauma associated with navigating the toxic culture of medicine.

I got nothing.

“It’s hard.”

“That’s just the culture of medicine. It’ll take time to change.”

“Race…that’s a tough one.”

But the comment that made me rethink this whole #DEI approach to fixing the toxic culture of many workplaces including medicine was “We need more diversity. We need to recruit more diverse students.”

I think this is a terrible idea and approach.

Recruiting people to a hostile workplace that was never designed for them, then gaslighting them & dismissing them for reporting is actually more detrimental and contributes to racial trauma/burnout.

Unless you can acknowledge and fix the culture, please stop recruiting people!

So I left the conference disappointed and disheartened.

I was done with women’s conferences.

I changed how I mentor & how I advice students. I hesitate to encourage anyone to go into medicine without letting them know the reality of navigating medicine as their authentic selves

Some of my mentees are so passionate about pursuing medicine despite this reality. And a frequent question that comes up is “How do I navigate this?”
“How do I speak up and advocate for myself?”
“How do I avoid retaliation?”

Some students shared a similar experience with women’s empowerment conferences. They couldn’t relate to discussions on pay/award/leadership gap.

They were trying to navigate racism, sexism, Islamophobia, and all types of micro-aggressions with power dynamics that put them at risk for speaking up.

Leadership skills and training are essential for self-advocacy. IMHO, these skills are more important earlier in your career when the power dynamics are not in your favor.

However, leadership and career development remains reserved for those already established in their field.

I believe we can do better. So we’ve been working to bridge this gap.

In the spirit of being the change and making our own tables, I’m proud to share Defiance Academy’s Inaugural Defiant Women’s Leadership Conference.

A conference for early career women to get real, strategize, and succeed in spite of the slow pace of DEI initiatives. We’re excited to provide a safe space to share your stories, learn, grow, connect and thrive! Hope you join us!