Healthcare Needs More Women in Leadership

Health eCareers (10/10/24) Leafe, Morgan

A McKinsey & Company study found an increase in the representation of women in healthcare in 2022 compared with the previous year, including a 10% increase in senior vice presidential roles. Still, women's representation in the healthcare industry declines with successive career advances — with only 32% of top management roles held by women, and just 4% held by women of color. More women in healthcare left their positions in 2022, with 16.6% of women in the C-suite leaving compared with 6.4% in the prior year. Women are less represented in healthcare leadership roles — even though having women in such rules has been shown to boost productivity, collaboration, and fairness. Compared with men, women tend to build connections more, lead with empathy, promote inclusivity, take initiative more, and work to develop themselves and others. A key factor behind women's lack of representation in healthcare leadership roles is bias, especially for women of color. Women are also more likely be caretakers of children and older parents, which can be a challenge if leadership roles do not include adequate flexibility and support. "Central to addressing the gender imbalance in healthcare leadership is dispelling any belief that women lack the skills or training necessary to succeed in leadership roles," writes authors Morgan Leafe. On the individual level, women can help to bring about change in the healthcare industry by internalizing a leadership identity, changing their mindset, creating safe spaces, having negotiation skills, and being prepared. "Continued work is needed at the individual and systemic level to encourage further change and remove remaining barriers to improve representation of women in healthcare leadership roles, which benefits not only individual women, but the entire healthcare organization," Leafe concludes.

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