Study: Women still a minority in health leadership
The Afya House, Nairobi on November 21, 2021. A study has revealed that women are still a minority in global health leadership.
What you need to know:
- In Kenya, women hold 42 per cent of mid-level and 40 per cent of top-level leadership positions in the health sector.
- This is according to The State of Women and Leadership in Global Health, drawing on global data and case studies from Kenya, India and Nigeria.
Women make up only a quarter of senior leadership roles globally, despite holding 70 per cent of health worker jobs and over 80 per cent of nursing and midwifery positions.
However, in Kenya, in spite of the challenges of a highly patriarchal culture, women hold 42 per cent of mid-level and 40 per cent of top-level leadership positions in the health sector. This is according to a new study, The State of Women and Leadership in Global Health, drawing on global data and case studies from Kenya, India and Nigeria.
In Nigeria, only about one third of leadership roles in health organisations are held by women, while in India, women average around 28 per cent in leadership roles across national health organisations.
The study also found that the number of female ministers of health has decreased from 31 to 25 per cent. Between 2018 and 2022, the proportion of World Health Assembly delegations led by women fell from 27 to 23 per cent.
While there is no shortage of women in the health leadership pipeline, with women worldwide forming a majority of junior doctors, nurses, pharmacists and dentists, there exists deeper occupational segregation, which makes leadership a pipe dream for many of them.
“Men are promoted as women stand still in their careers, facing ‘glass ceilings’ to leadership roles at every level. A ‘glass elevator’ has also been reported in some countries for men in nursing, who, although a minority, hold a disproportionate number of senior nursing roles,” the study found.
“Additionally, occupational segregation contributes to a gender pay gap of 24 per cent in the health sector globally, higher than in many other economic sectors. Women are more likely than men to work in unpaid health roles such as non-remunerated community health workers.
"The gender power imbalances resulting from the segregation create an enabling environment for sexual harassment at work, which is reported to be a major problem for women health workers but rarely recorded or sanctioned.”
The study calls on all leaders in health to promote gender-transformative policies as the basis for strong and effective health systems.
“Gender inequity in health leadership is not solely a women’s issue and we cannot put the responsibility for change solely on the shoulders of women leaders. Women should not need to change to compete in systems and cultures designed for men.
“Traditional approaches focused on encouraging women to be more assertive and ‘lean in’ but women experience backlash when they behave in ways that do not fit their gender stereotype.”
The study contends that the adoption of a gender-transformative leadership, which calls for leaders of all genders, will improve health outcomes by addressing legal, cultural and social barriers that prevent women working in health from attaining positions in management, leadership and governance.
