This module explores the persistent and compounding inequities faced by women of color in medicine and how they shape professional experiences, career advancement, compensation, and well-being. These inequities are not driven by gender alone. They arise at the intersection of race, ethnicity, and other dimensions of identity, and are embedded in workplace culture, evaluation practices, policies, and institutional structures. Participants will build the knowledge and tools to recognize these layered inequities, interrupt bias, and advocate for sustainable change within training programs, healthcare systems, and academic institutions.
Learning Objectives
Define intersectionality and explain how overlapping identities, particularly race and gender, create compounding inequities in the professional experiences of women of color in medicine.
Identify the factors that contribute to pay, recruitment, and retention gaps for women of color, and develop strategies to recruit, retain, and promote them, at both the institutional level and the individual level (including succeeding while maintaining authenticity and identity).
Define microaggression, develop strategies to respond as receiver and bystander, and learn how to receive feedback and grow when approached about one's own behavior.
The following resources serve as the core materials for this module, ranging from scoping reviews to practical management guides:
Objective 1: Intersectionality and Compounding Inequity
Objective 2: Gaps, Strategies, and Sustainable Change
Objective 3: Microaggressions, Response, and Growth
Designed for RAFT meetings, subdivided by module objectives.
General Discussion Questions:
How could you respond to colleagues that suggest that racial equity is no longer a pressing issue in medicine — for example, "We have so many more diverse students now, so the problem is being solved"?
Have you ever received feedback you later recognized as shaped by race, ethnicity, or the intersection of race and gender — about your communication style, perceived assertiveness, or "fit"? How did you process it, and what would you have wanted instead?
How does your institution currently track, report, or act on pay and promotion data disaggregated by both race and gender? What would meaningful transparency look like, and what role could you play in advancing it?
What initiatives exist at your institution to support women of color specifically? What would you want to start or strengthen?
Objective-Specific Discussion Questions