Increasing Women in Leadership in Global Health

Abstract

Globally, women experience a disproportionate burden of disease and death due to inequities in access to basic health care, nutrition, and education. In the face of this disparity, it is striking that leadership in the field of global health is highly skewed towards men and that global health organizations neglect the issue of gender equality in their own leadership. Randomized trials demonstrate that women in leadership positions in governmental organizations implement different policies than men and that these policies are more supportive of women and children. Other studies show that proactive interventions to increase the proportion of women in leadership positions within businesses or government can be successful. Therefore, the authors assert that increasing female leadership in global health is both feasible and a fundamental step towards addressing the problem of women’s health. In this article, the authors contrast the high proportion of young female trainees who are interested in academic global health early in their careers with the low numbers of women successfully rising to global health leadership roles. The authors subsequently explore reasons for female attrition from the field of global health and offer practical strategies for closing the gender gap in global health leadership. The authors propose solutions aimed to promote female leaders from both resource-wealthy and resource-poor countries, including leadership training grants, mentorship from female leaders in global professions, strengthening health education in resource-poor countries, research-enabling grants, and altering institutional policies to support women choosing a global health career path.

The trouble with girls: obstacles to women’s success in medicine and research—an essay by Laurie Garrett

“…Over 80% of global health undergraduates in the US are female, as are 70% of medical students who hope to engage in global health 10. Yet just 39% of their faculty, and 24% of directors of the global health programs they might one day work with, are women.…”

Global Health Master’s Students: Demographics and Career Goals

“…These data can inform graduate schools as they consider the structure of their global health programs, design curricula to complement prior student knowledge, and target the novel skill set necessary for this discipline. For example, programs should be aware of the overwhelmingly female interest in global health education and the implications for gender-based obstacles like health and safety issues and career longevity (Downs et al, 2014).…”

A new vision for global health leadership

“…The lack of gender parity in the leadership of key global health institutions in academic, governmental and non-governmental organizations is evidence that this aspiration for diverse and inclusive leadership is not yet a reality. 1,2 Women continue to represent the majority of the health workforce worldwide yet remain the minority in global health leadership. 3 For example, only 31% of the world's ministers of health are women, and of the chief executives of the 27 healthcare companies in the 2017 global Fortune 500, only one is female.…”

“…7,8 In the field of global health, women bring insight and ingenuity to complex problems, leveraging their service on the front lines as caregivers for their families and communities and often improving outcomes. 2 Second, the barriers that impede gender parity in leadership are often deeply embedded in cultural norms, historical events, and stereotyping (of both gender and discipline). Young emerging leaders in fields such as law, engineering, and health face stereotypes based on gender, culture, and discipline even as they tackle critical global health issues.…”