International Women's Day 2023

In our celebrations of this year's International Women’s Day (IWD) we looked at the achievements made by women, as well as the challenges still to face.

One of the themes for this year's International Women’s Day (8 March 2023) was Embrace Equity. To celebrate this special day we commissioned a range of activities, including a video interview, a podcast, a free webinar and two blog posts from Dr Fabida Aria and Dr Ananta Dave.

We are also using IWD to raise concerns that women are suffering in silence, which could lead to half of the nation having poorer mental health.

Free Members' Webinar

This special webinar 'Sexual harassment: It's not just banter' took place on 8 March.

Speakers included:

• Dr Shubulade Smith CBE: Dr Smith is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and an academic at King’s College London. She will become President of RCPsych in July 2023.
• Dr Sumi Ratnam, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist at East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT). Dr Ratnam has worked in women’s services for 19 years and has an interest in the well-being of women at work.
• Dr Philippa Greenfield is the RCPsych Women and Mental Health Special Interest Group (WMHSIG) lead for their work on Violence Against Women and Girls. Dr Greenfield is a Consultant General Adult Psychiatrist.
• Dr Stella Kingett is the incoming chair of the RCPsych WMHSIG.

In the first part of this webinar, Dr Ratnam discussed sexual harassment faced by girls and women in the public and work spheres of their life. She was then joined by colleagues from ELFT who shared findings from a survey that looked at the experiences of female doctors in their trust. The webinar ended with a Q&A.

Video interview

For IWD 2023 Dr Elaine Lockhart, Chair of the RCPsych Child and Adolescent Faculty, spoke to us about equality and equity for women in the mental health space.