Why is gender equity in healthcare leadership a priority?

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!

Equity and diversity in leadership is a key step towards eliminating healthcare disparities and improving quality of care. It leads to:

  • Improved and more equitable health, social justice and healthcare outcomes

  • A more empowered workforce, improved motivation, reduced attrition, and improved quality of care

  • Enhanced Governance, higher ethical standards and transparency

  • Improved board performance in environmental, social and Governance activities, with gender-diverse boards outperforming non-diverse boards

  • Improved business performance, profitability 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)

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.