• by Danielle Oster , March 12, 2025

Nearly three out of four women in healthcare have encountered gender bias.

According to women-founded scrubs brand Figs, 72% of women in medicine have either experienced or witnessed gender bias, and 43% say more women in leadership roles are needed in the field.

Figs launched a campaign for International Women’s Day highlighting the importance that small moments of support and mentorship can make for women in medicine.

The campaign centered around a short hero video featuring real women healthcare practitioners, embodying both the challenges they face and what keeps them going. Within 24 hours of launching, the brand says it organically earned over 182,000 likes on TikTok;, 90,000 likes, and 20,000 shares, on Instagram.

Among the real healthcare practitioners featured in the campaign is Dr. Betsy Grunch, a neurosurgeon who is also a veritable TikTok star with 4.7 million followers; and Dr. Pamela Mehta, an orthopedic surgeon who says she was pushed out of her job for being pregnant, and now serves as an advocate for women in healthcare, while calling out her experiences facing workplace discrimination.

“The OR doesn’t care if I’m a woman. It only cares that I’m the best,” Mehta said in a statement.

Grunch and Mehta partnered with the brand on social media content running as part of the campaign as well, including a promotional giveaway of the new merchandise the brand introduced for International Women’s Day: scrubs in new Wayfarer or Mariner colors.

The campaign also included an International Women’s Day event in Los Angeles on March 7, designed to “connect, empower, and bring together women in medicine.”

The stories of women healthcare practitioners who worked with the brand include being discouraged from pursuing a career in medicine by authority figures.

“My high school bio teacher said no one would take me seriously in science. But here I am—fighting for the tiniest lives, making split-second decisions, and giving newborns their best shot,” another healthcare practitioner, Dr. Kate R. said in a statement. “Don’t let anyone else decide what you’re capable of.”

Figs was founded by Executive Chair Heather Hasson and CEO Trina Spear, and claims to be the first company led by two female co-founders to go to IPO.