Reader response: Understanding and addressing gender equity for women in neurology.

Abstract

There are few articles where a reader skims the abstract and heads straight for the discussion, but Dr. Silver's contemporary issues article1 was not one of them. Dr. Silver's work on providing a historical and cultural context for gender inequity of women in neurology is illuminating. Balanced and evidence-based articles such as this help propel the momentum of the movement, elevate it from an emotional argument, and give its audience, both men and women, the data and vocabulary to continue the discussion in departmental meetings and annual reviews. The global debates have their place, but the discussions in more intimate immediate settings are what will continue to change the course of history. As women in the midst of this culture shift, we are finding resources in each other, supporting each other, and amplifying each other, which itself liberates, empowers, and emboldens. Seeing the leadership in national organizations become more inclusive of the body of professionals they represent is proof that, as a specialty, we are moving in the right direction. It also makes those of us who are embarking on our careers take pause and honor those women who have come before us. The cultural shift that energizes us now did not happen overnight—it is because of their tenacity and their persistence.