Celebrating Women on the Front Lines

At Henry Schein, we celebrated Women’s History Month this year by reflecting on the trailblazers who refused to accept the notion that only men could practice medicine or dentistry. The contributions of women such as Dorotea Bucca, widely considered the first female physician, and Lucy Hobbs, the first woman to graduate from a dental college, are matched only by the extraordinary strength they needed to overcome entrenched ignorance.

Their legacies continue to be felt today, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic has thrust health care professionals – many of whom are women – into the spotlight. Women such as:

1. Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, who helps lead vaccine research at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Corbett and her team helped to develop the Moderna vaccine against COVID-19;
2.  Dr. Kathrin Jansen, the Head of Vaccine Research and Development at Pfizer, who led the development of that company’s COVID-19 vaccine; and,
3.  Dr. Hanneke Schuitemaker, who helped spearhead the development of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as Global Head of Viral Vaccine Discovery and Translational Medicine at J&J’s Janssen Vaccines & Prevention division.

Imagine where we’d be in the fight against COVID without the contributions of these women? The World Health Organization recently reported that women comprise 70% of the workforce in the health and social sector, and that women make up the overwhelming majority of nurses around the world. 

The contributions women are making during the pandemic are even more impressive when you consider that women have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s negative economic impact. Women and men alike have been affected, but this research from McKinsey & Company found that the pandemic has reversed progress toward gender equity in the workplace. For the first time, women have considered leaving the workforce or downshifting their careers at a greater rate than men, and this trend is even worse for working mothers, women who hold senior management positions, and Black women. And this report from the United Nations shows that during the pandemic, more women than men are foregoing paid work for unpaid domestic work and to care for children and loved ones.

These difficult realities make it even more important that women and girls are respected, empowered, and provided equal opportunity for advancement. Any society, organization, or business that does so is better because of it. And that holds true for Henry Schein, a company that would not exist without the contributions of Esther Schein and the great women who have followed in her footsteps. 

Women represent almost half of the world’s population and we must support the current and future generations of women who are blazing new trails in areas such as science, technology, engineering, business, health care, and beyond. The more we engage women in our companies and our communities, the better off society will be.