By Dr. Trina Ting
This year, the theme for International Women’s Day (IWD) is Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress. The theme is reflected to bring attention to the gender inequity when policies are made that neglect women and girls’ needs, either at a federal level or even on much smaller fields such as a workplace. For example, government budgets that do not allocate sufficient funds towards resources towards preventing violence against women or one can argue even the national childcare plan that is currently struggling due to proper lack of funding as being a feminist issue.
Since the COVID pandemic, many have fallen into poverty around the world, disproportionately affecting women and children. While many are struggling here in Ontario, women and children are almost always vulnerable groups. Consider your own life and the causes / charities you support: is there a cause for women and girls that could benefit from your support? It doesn’t have to be strictly financial support, volunteering and simply advocating to your local MP/MPPs can also go a long way.
Women’s rights are human rights. When women’s needs are adequately addressed, it levels the playing field and allows society to function better for all of us.
The History of Women in Chiropractic
By Dr. Trina Ting
We are proud to be a women-led chiropractic team here at Advanced Chiropractic and Wellness Centre. Did you know that prior to World War I, chiropractic schools accepted women readily as students? Traditional medical schools accepted few or no women, but the founder of chiropractic, BJ Palmer stated in 1897 that “Every man and woman who can cure is divinely ordained to heal and their duty to God and humanity demands that they do it.”
In the first two years of the graduating classes of Palmer School of Chiropractic, two women were in the class of 7 chiropractors. Women made up 20-50% of the class members from 1895-1905. Initially, the school welcomed women enrolment, and encouraged husband-wife enrolment by offering a discount in fees to both.
The school even published the book Chiropractic for Women in 1917 in order to recruit female students. However, in the 1930s, as chiropractic became more mainstream, the profession followed traditional medical schools in suppressing women practitioners and encouraged them to become office assistants instead.
In the US, chiropractic still has less women practitioners than medical doctors as of 2016. The good news in that the graduating classes in recent years from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, tend to have more than 50% female students. We hope that this pattern remains steady and that not only women chiropractors continue to graduate, but that more women continue to remain in practice. There are certain unique challenges that face women working in health care, and this is why Invest in Women is an important theme.