Editor's Note: This message was sent to the Duke Health community from Duke Health Leadership.

“I raise up my voice, not so I can shout but so that those without a voice can be heard. We cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” – Malala Yousafzai

The theme for Women’s History Month this year is “providing healing, promoting hope.” What a fitting phrase to summarize the incredible work of our female colleagues at Duke Health.

Healing and hope come in many forms. In each of our missions, women are leading the way, providing healing and promoting hope for patients, their families and each other. Duke Health recognizes and acknowledges all women for their contributions to our core mission. Women are instrumental in all aspects of Duke Health – clinical care, operations, research and education. Every day, women lead, provide care, conduct research and are directly involved in the oversight of everything we collectively have and will achieve as an institution. At Duke Health, we recognize and celebrate the invaluable contributions of all women on our team.

Today is International Women’s Day, and the focus this year is on breaking the bias. At Duke, we take fostering a respectful, equitable environment seriously. In fact, Duke University and Duke University Health System were ranked among the “Best Employers for Women” in 2021. While we still have work to do, we’ve taken steps to support women at Duke, expanding the parental leave benefit, increasing the number of lactation spaces and developing growth opportunities for women to advance at all levels.

Duke Health also offers the Women Executives: Learning, Empowering and Developing affinity group or WeLEAD. This group works to support and inspire women at Duke to grow and thrive. Over the next month, WeLEAD will be reactivating their efforts with the goal of expanding to include more women leaders. And the Duke University School of Medicine offers the ALICE program, a leadership development opportunity for mid-career women faculty. ALICE – Academic Leadership, Innovation, and Collaborative Engagement – provides in-depth opportunities for leadership skill development, personal reflection and goal setting, peer-mentoring and structured 360 feedback.

This month we encourage you to show your support of our female colleagues by downloading a Women’s History Month or International Women’s Day Zoom background.

Please take time this March to reflect on the vital contributions of our strong female team members across Duke and how they make our workplace and our community a better place each and every day.