THE WOMEN’S ADVOCATE
‘GET IT RIGHT FOR WOMEN AND EVERYONE BENEFITS’
Professor Dame Lesley Regan, 65, is a leading gynaecologist who was the secondever female president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), and is the Chair of Wellbeing of Women. She lives in London and has grown-up twin daughters.
After lockdown, I held a party to celebrate being made a dame in the 2020 New Year’s Honours. As I raised a glass with my twin daughters Jenny and Clare, now 29, they pointed out how much their late grandfather Jack would have enjoyed himself. He’d have been over the moon to see my journey, from the first in our family to be properly educated, to becoming president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and being recognised for my contribution to women’s health.
My father was raised in a Cardiff slum, leaving school aged 12 so he could support his disabled mother. He was very keen on education for girls. On my seventh birthday I announced I was going to be a doctor – he simply said,
‘If you try hard enough, you can do it.’
During my training in the early 1980s, I did a year’s general surgery in the East End. Patients would say, ‘Thank you very much, can I see the doctor now?’ Once, when I was in theatre, a surgeon said to the theatre sister, ‘I don’t suppose our senior house officer (me) would pass her surgical fellowship because girls can’t do that, can they?’ I thought, ‘I’m going to show him.’ I realised then I wouldn’t just be judged on the service I provided, there would be a gender problem too.
In 1990, I was appointed the first female consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at St Mary’s Hospital, London, and my five male colleagues were quite worried I would be flaky. Today the vast majority of consultants in O&G at St Mary’s are women.
Looking after girls and women is an extraordinary opportunity. Teach women to help themselves and they influence the men, their families and their wider communities.
In December 2019, as RCOG president, I spearheaded the Better For Women report, a strategy document identifying cost-effective solutions to prevent girls and women falling through the cracks of our health systems. It called for a national plan for better access to reliable
‘At first, male colleagues were worried I’d be flaky’
information, contraception, abortion and infertility services, a focus on preventing gynae cancers and an end to violence towards women.
Last year, I became Chair of Wellbeing of Women (WOW), a charity that improves the health and wellbeing of women, girls and babies, through research, advocacy and education.
So many things have historically been taboo subjects – periods, sex, contraception, abortion, menopause – and I’m passionate about ending stigma and improving outcomes for the 51% of our population. But we’re not there yet, so I have to keep going. >>