Colleges such as the RACP and Australasian College of Dermatologists, health departments, health services and medical organisations including the AMA are supporting gender equity in healthcare leadership to recognise International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8.
The health and medical organisations are partners in the Advancing Women in Healthcare Leadership initiative, which is offering 15 part-scholarships to attend the three-day Monash University Women in Leadership Program either in person or online during 2024.
The program covers topics including leadership approaches, emotional intelligence, mentoring essentials, work-life integration, influencing policy and practice, strategic stakeholder relationships, and more.
It aims to help women achieve their full career potential while also improving organisational culture, gender equity and outcomes via their ability to implement change in the workplace.
Course facilitators include a number of clinicians – endocrinologists Professor Helena Teede and Dr Anju Joham, head and neck cancer surgeon Associate Professor Elizabeth Sigston, and paediatrician Dr Jenny Proimos.
The scholarship offer is being made available to recognise the IWD theme of Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress.
Backlash against women as leaders
Equity in healthcare leadership is also the focus of a new commentary in the MJA (link here), which says there is already a backlash against women being appointed to leadership positions in healthcare despite not yet achieving parity with men.
A recent survey of medical professionals showed an unwillingness to support gender equity initiatives due to the misbelief that women are already well represented in medicine, the authors note.
“If the majority believe there is no problem, there will be no support for women and leadership in the health care sector. This misbelief may be a symptom of diversity, equity, and inclusion fatigue, and we might expect continued backlash in the form of people tuning out or even lashing out,” said Melissa Wheeler and Laksmi Govindasamy.
Women in healthcare leadership roles are also being “set up to fail”, the article asserts, citing the “glass cliff phenomenon”, which refers to the tendency for women and other minoritised people to be appointed to leadership positions in times of crisis, compared with periods of stability.
“This is because, when circumstances are bad, change is both desired and needed, and women and other minoritised people are often pushed forward as visible signals of change.”
“While this may be a golden opportunity, it is often an example of a poisoned chalice, as these appointed leaders are expected to perform a miracle to turn the crisis around — anything less is perceived as failure.”
The authors call for “a renewed focus on institutional changes that facilitate work–life integration and organisational inclusivity may better support current and aspiring leaders, which in turn can deliver the benefits of diverse leadership back to our health system.”
Empowering women
According to UN Women, global challenges can only be addressed by solutions that empower women.
“By investing in women, we can spark change and speed the transition towards a healthier, safer, and more equal world for all,” it says.