Receiving an award is an accolade. Awards validate and bring visibility, help attract funding, hasten career advancement, and can consolidate career accomplishments. Yet, in the fields of public health and medicine, few women receive them. Between seven public health and medicine awards from diverse countries, the chances of a woman receiving a prize was nine out of 100 since their inception.

If women encompass the majority of the clinical and public health workforce, why do so few receive awards? The
answers reflect gender biases in the health field and beyond. One element is the extent to which women are
underrepresented in decision making in health.

Our focus on awards within the wider context of gender discrimination is to call attention to one area that is highly visible yet largely uncontested.

If we don’t address gender biases in public health awards, women will remain in a Catch 22—they will not receive awards because of their lack of representation in senior and leadership positions, and their lack of awards will
impede their advancement towards such posts.

To read the full paper visit the Lancet or click on the link below.

By Rosemary Morgan, Roopa Dhatt, Kelly Muraya, Kent Buse and Asha S George