 Oct. 19, 2002 |
| ASSEMBLY EDITION • SAN DIEGO |
In February 1989, an article in the AAFP Reporter noted, "More women are choosing careers in family practice." Just more than 30 percent of the family practice residents then, in fact. However, not one woman's name appeared in the roster of new officers and directors published early that year.
 Maggie Blackburn, M.D., left, of Stamford, N.Y., a member of the Commission on Public Health, and Arizona delegate Michelle May, M.D., of Phoenix on Tuesday announced to the Congress of Delegates the sunsetting of slotted seats for women delegates. |
Such disparity led the 1992 Congress of Delegates to request a Bylaws amendment seeking delegate seats for the women's constituency. The Congress adopted the amendment in 1993 recognizing that when women came to parity within the AAFP, the slotted seats would no longer be necessary.
So it is an ironic twist of fate that the constituency's seats, because of its success, are sunsetting, says Carolyn Lopez, M.D., of Chicago, speaker of the Congress.
"Clearly I have mixed feelings," said Lopez. "On the one hand, it's hard to say goodbye. On the other hand, it's a watershed event, a recognition that what we started 10 years ago actually worked."
All indicators show that this has happened.
In 1992 93, the Board of Directors included 17 men and two women -- those two women were the resident and student members of the Board. This year there were seven female board members, with a woman running for each of the 2002 03 offices. In 1993, there were 17 female delegates and 25 female alternates in the Congress. This year, that figure increased to 33 delegates and 35 alternates.
On Thursday night, the demise of the delegates' slotted seats was celebrated. Items from the Archives for Family Practice were shared, including a postcard from a long-past Assembly that encouraged members to bring their wives to an event. Like many other archived items from years past, this one assumed all physicians were men.
Such treasures were a big hit at the reception.
"Reading these makes me feel so lucky to be here now," said Linda Siy, M.D., of Fort Worth, Texas. "We don't have to put up with the bias, the talking down, that women did then."
The women's constituency will continue to meet at AAFP's annual National Conference of Special Constituencies, but it will no longer elect delegates to the Congress.
As a message from the women's subcommittee of the Committee on Special Constituencies declared to members: "We really have come a long way."
FP Report is published by the
AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2002 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.