Women have been contributing to the field of medical science for generations now, yet they have always been subject to bias. However, their achievements are starting to be discovered through educating people that women also did partake in revolutionizing this field. For now, we celebrate women's history month with the theme of gender equality today for a better tomorrow. But why is it important that we recognize their works?
Several medical professionals have contributed– women like Karen Horney, Mamie Philipps Clark, and Uta Frith who achieved several works that completely changed the psychology field.
What did Karen Horney provide for this specific branch? She developed a theory that is still prominent as of today; she defined neuroses as "psychic disturbance[s] brought by fears and defenses against these fears, and by attempts to find compromise solutions for conflicting tendencies." Her study found Freud's theory to be biased and rejected his concepts, as she considered it to be a mockery to women. She was a psychologist in a field where women’s contributions were perceived as meaningless and paved her way through so many obstacles.
How about Mamie Philipps Clark? Mamie contributed to this field by helping people she knew personally, working in organizations for homeless black girls by providing them essential mental health services. She noted it as a lack or limited help for minority children. One of known experiments is the Clark Doll Tests where she showed black children two dolls where one’s skin was white and the other’s dark, questioning them which was the “bad” doll and “good” doll. Shockingly, 59% considered the black doll as “bad.” Her studies made a huge impact on how society works and the field of psychology.
Now for the million dollar question, why is it important to know and recognize the importance of their works? Women have been overlooked in receiving patents from their works, roughly 6% received the recognition they should have for their work? What is the reason that they’re not receiving it? It’s because of gender inequality where women are less likely to commercialize their work than men, meaning they are subject to rejection. So why is it important to recognize their work? It’s because we need to eliminate our biases and know the potential of every woman in their field; it’s not only men who can work hard and accomplish great things but also women who worked hard and paved their way to further development.
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