Why is gender equity in healthcare leadership a priority?

Gender equity and diversity in leadership are essential to eliminating healthcare disparities and enhancing the quality of care. Diverse leadership drives:

  • Improved and more equitable health outcomes, advancing social justice and reducing systemic inequities in healthcare delivery.

  • A more empowered and motivated workforce, leading to higher retention and improved patient care.

  • Stronger governance, with enhanced ethical standards, accountability, and transparency.

  • Improved board performance in environmental, social, and governance activities—gender-diverse boards consistently outperform non-diverse ones.

  • Greater business success, including improved profitability, innovation, and productivity.

There is a “strong and convincing causal relationship between increasing the share of women in leadership and subsequent improvements in company performance. This relationship is present when increasing women’s representation on boards, increasing the share of women in the most senior leadership tier of the company and when appointing a female CEO”

(Cassells & Duncan, 2020, p. 8)

On language …

While we embrace a broader and more inclusive understanding of gender, we retain the terms “woman” and “women” to holistically include all individuals who identify with this gender. You can read more in our Gender Language Guide.

Our focus is on advancing women in healthcare leadership; however, we acknowledge that trans, non-binary, and gender diverse people also face significant barriers and discrimination within the health workforce. Many of the principles we apply to our work are relevant to broader gender equity efforts.

SOURCES

Banahan C, Hasson G. Across the Board Improvements: Gender Diversity and ESG Performance. The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. 2018 [cited 2022 Oct 31]. Available from: https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2018/09/06/across-the-board-improvements-gender-diversity-and-esg-performance/

Cassells R, Duncan A. Gender equity insights 2020: Delivering the business outcomes. BCEC | WGEA Gender Equity Series, Issue No 5. Mar 2020.

Dixon-Fyle S, Dolan K, Hunt V, Prince S. How diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) matter. 2020 [cited 2022 Oct 31]. Available from: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. OHCHR and women’s human rights and gender equality. OHCHR. 2022 [cited 2022 Oct 31]. Available from: https://www.ohchr.org/en/women

World Economic Forum. Global Gender Gap Report, 2020.

World Health Organization. Delivered by women, led by men: A gender and equity analysis of the global health and social workforce. Geneva; 2019.

Dr Belinda Garth (AWHL Senior Research Fellow & Translation Lead) was interviewed by Rural Health Pro’s Jackie Bassett for the A Healthy Exchange podcast. Listen now!