Australian Medical Association working to advance women in leadership
Australian Medical Association (AMA): One of the Lead partners of the Advancing Women in Healthcare Leadership Initiative.
The AMA has been committed to improving gender equity within its membership, leadership and representative structures since 2018. To achieve this aim, the AMA partnered with the advancing women in healthcare leadership (AWHL) initiative in 2021 and is an advocate for gender equity in leadership within the medical profession.
Since setting and reporting on targets for gender representation within federal AMA structure in 2019, the AMA has seen a shift towards more balanced representation on its councils and committees. A key target was 40 per cent female, 40 per cent male, 20 per cent flexible (female, male or non-binary) as an average across all its federal AMA councils and committees. In 2022, the AMA was thrilled to achieve this target for the first time.
While having a target in and of itself has given prominence to the importance of gender diversity in AMA leadership and representative structures, the AMA has also implemented initiatives to support gender equity including:
promoting the gender representation target when seeking nominations to councils and committees
developing advice on strategies to support gender equity in committee representation
being transparent about what’s required to participate in councils and committees
running forums at each AMA national conference to highlight the importance of gender equity and work in this area.
The partnership with the AWHL initiative is particularly important to the AMA. It has enabled us to undertake an evidence-based organisational change management process, supported by AMA leadership. In August, AWHL and a group of AMA leaders will discuss what further evidence-based actions it can take to support women in leadership across the AMA and will set priorities to support the AMA in its journey to becoming a gender diverse and inclusive organisation.
Read more about the work the AMA is doing in support of advancing women in leadership and equity inclusion and diversity.
For more information on the work the AMA is doing to advance women in healthcare leadership and on equity, inclusion and diversity more broadly, contact Sally Cross, Policy Manager – General Practice and Workplace at scross@ama.com.au