History
New Zealand has a long history of women in medicine working together to support and advance the health and wellbeing of themselves and their communities. However in recent years, even as the proportion of the medical workforce has become increasingly female, opportunities for this group to meet outside their own area of medicine, to share ideas and to advocate for change have diminished.
Most other comparable countries have active Women in Medicine societies which serve a broadly similar function, focusing on efforts to support and promote the wellbeing of their members, to network, and to advocate for causes, particularly those which affect the health of women and their whānau.
New Zealand’s Medical Women’s Association was disestablished in 2003, after 82 years, due to dwindling interest and membership . This may have been a reflection on workloads, a preference for joining specialism based groups or Colleges, and a sense that there was no longer a need for a gender-based medical society. The legacy of this group continues in the form of a New Zealand Medical Women’s Elective Award, administered by both the University of Auckland and the University of Otago.
In 2018, in response to members expressing a strong desire for peer support and collegiality, the association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) established the NZWIM Facebook group. This group now has over 5000 members. Since its inception, the group has provided a platform for knowledge sharing, education, networking, peer support and advocacy. The inaugural face to face conference in May 2022 provided the first opportunity for members to meet, and also to ask - where to from here?
In order to organise the NZWIM Conference 2022 the committee established the New Zealand Women in Medicine Charitable Trust. This Trust now has the opportunity to grow and become an established society which could take its place alongside groups such as the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) , the Australian Federation of Medical Women (AFMW), the UK Medical Women’s Federation and the Federation of Medical Women of Canada.