WGH HSG Poster v2
Women’s Leadership in Global Health: Contributing to Health Systems Resilience Katilyn Wilkins, MPH 1, Roopa Dhatt, MD 1,2, Sally Theobald 3,4, Stephen Buzuzi 5, Bandeth Ros 6 , Sreytouch Vong 6, Kelly Muraya7, Catherine Molyneux7, Kate Hawkins8, Camila González-Beiras, BsC 1,9, Kristina Ronsin1, Désirée Lichtenstein1, Kelly Thompson1, Katherine Davis1, Caitlin Jackson1. Affiliations: 1. Women in Global Health; 2. Department of Medicine, Case Western University; 3. Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; 4. Visiting Fellow, Institute of Development Studies; 5. Biomedical Training Research Institute; 6. Cambodia Development Resource Institute; 7. Kenya Medical Research Institute -KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme; 8. Centre for Global Health and Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford; 9. Pamoja Communications, UK Bishopstone; 10. Institute of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine
Background SDGs provide a vision for social improvements towards progress in reducing social inequalities, increasing economic progress and protecting the environment. SDG 5 specifically calls for the improvement of gender equality, including:
Sustainable Development Goal #5 calls, in part, for gender equality in leadership by 2030
-Ending gender based violence -Ending gender based discrimination and resource allocation -recognizing and supporting women in leadership positions -Addressing issues of unpaid care
Men
The global community has placed more emphasis on women's priority health issues, such as perinatal, maternal, neonatal and child health, communicable (infectious) diseases, and non-communicable diseases, since the Millennium Development Goals. There have also been many shifts in demographics, geography and epidemiology which effect the burden of disease felt by women. As health issues continue to evolve, so must our response in every area of global health and development. This includes improving treatment and delivery of care, to creating policies that address the issues and efforts to address the social determinants of health.
2. Capacity Building All people working in the global health field and health sector should go through gender responsive training as part of a core competencies training, ensuring that all levels are working from the same viewpoint towards the goal of creating gender equality in global health.
Women
3. Enabling Environments Global Health organizations need to develop enabling environments for women’s leadership that aim to recognize the visibility of women’s leadership through: -Hosting gender balanced events -Development of a recognition system; -prioritization of recruitment of women leaders Such environments will contribute to institutional re-structuring that provides support to women in building careers and continuing to achieve throughout the life course.
However, currently women make up...
Governance is a core pillar of health systems and greater parity and gender responsive, transformative leadership are essential in our efforts to strengthen health systems and meet the gender and health related SDGs. Currently, women compose the vast majority of the global health workforce, yet they are underrepresented at the top institutional decision-making level, including global policy and governance forums, thought leadership panels, and the decision-making structures in the public and private sectors. Without the full and equal participation of all relevant stakeholders striving to achieve the global priorities, the global community is loosing out on a valuable resource in achieving our ambitious goals. The negative health impact of this gender imbalance in global health leadership remains mostly unknown, yet there are many benefits to gender equal leadership. Aim To examine the realities, challenges and opportunities of women’s leadership in global health at international level. The study points to deficiencies in this area and signposts ways in which they could be overcome.
75%
of Workforce
USD $3 Trillion
of Leadership
Nealy 1/2 Unpaid
Women’s economic contributions to global health care [3] Women’s Role in the Global Health Care Workforce [16]
Other ways that global health organizations can contribute to gender responsive leadership is by increasing thought leadership events related to women’s role in global health; supporting leadership development and building capacity including formal training in technical skills, research, and mentorship. 4. Mentorship and Networking Mentorship must be cultivated early in training and profession, with greater investments in mentorship at the mid-career level when women leaders are at greatest risk for leaving the talent pipeline. This mentorship should be gender responsive equipping all with knowledge and tools to recognize gender specific challenges. 5. Research and Data Research and data should be disaggregated and reflexive in terms of sex and gender. Disaggregation of all health research, specifically accounting for sex and gender in the development of research questions, design experiments, analysis of data and reporting of results, particularly as it pertains to health systems governance.
76%
of Directors are Men
For more information, go to our website: www.womeningh.org
25%
Time to Act: Setting & Agenda for Change 1. Leadership The global health community should commit to leadership that is gender responsive and institutionalized. Gender transformative leadership is needed at all levels of global health and health systems, as it works toward eliminating gender bias and discrimination which in turn allows for full participation of all genders and ensures equitable access to opportunities.
24%
of Directors are Women
2014 Directors of Global Health Centers at Top 50 US Medical Schools [9]
73%
of MOHs are Men
23%
of MOHs are Women
2015 Global Ministers of Health [17]
30% are Men
70%* are Women
2015 Leadership at Top Foundations [18,19] *Important outliers exist, such as The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department of International Development, which only have 25% and 33% women executives, respectively.
By starting with further research and analysis on the impact of women’s leadership from design to implementation to health outcomes and further research and analysis of the mid-career “pipe-line drain” of women leaders in global health, we will begin to answer many of the questions we have regarding the impact of gender equality (or lack thereof) in health systems.
Background SDGs provide a vision for social improvements towards progress in reducing social inequalities, increasing economic progress and protecting the environment. SDG 5 specifically calls for the improvement of gender equality, including:
Sustainable Development Goal #5 calls, in part, for gender equality in leadership by 2030
-Ending gender based violence -Ending gender based discrimination and resource allocation -recognizing and supporting women in leadership positions -Addressing issues of unpaid care
Men
The global community has placed more emphasis on women's priority health issues, such as perinatal, maternal, neonatal and child health, communicable (infectious) diseases, and non-communicable diseases, since the Millennium Development Goals. There have also been many shifts in demographics, geography and epidemiology which effect the burden of disease felt by women. As health issues continue to evolve, so must our response in every area of global health and development. This includes improving treatment and delivery of care, to creating policies that address the issues and efforts to address the social determinants of health.
2. Capacity Building All people working in the global health field and health sector should go through gender responsive training as part of a core competencies training, ensuring that all levels are working from the same viewpoint towards the goal of creating gender equality in global health.
Women
3. Enabling Environments Global Health organizations need to develop enabling environments for women’s leadership that aim to recognize the visibility of women’s leadership through: -Hosting gender balanced events -Development of a recognition system; -prioritization of recruitment of women leaders Such environments will contribute to institutional re-structuring that provides support to women in building careers and continuing to achieve throughout the life course.
However, currently women make up...
Governance is a core pillar of health systems and greater parity and gender responsive, transformative leadership are essential in our efforts to strengthen health systems and meet the gender and health related SDGs. Currently, women compose the vast majority of the global health workforce, yet they are underrepresented at the top institutional decision-making level, including global policy and governance forums, thought leadership panels, and the decision-making structures in the public and private sectors. Without the full and equal participation of all relevant stakeholders striving to achieve the global priorities, the global community is loosing out on a valuable resource in achieving our ambitious goals. The negative health impact of this gender imbalance in global health leadership remains mostly unknown, yet there are many benefits to gender equal leadership. Aim To examine the realities, challenges and opportunities of women’s leadership in global health at international level. The study points to deficiencies in this area and signposts ways in which they could be overcome.
75%
of Workforce
USD $3 Trillion
of Leadership
Nealy 1/2 Unpaid
Women’s economic contributions to global health care [3] Women’s Role in the Global Health Care Workforce [16]
Other ways that global health organizations can contribute to gender responsive leadership is by increasing thought leadership events related to women’s role in global health; supporting leadership development and building capacity including formal training in technical skills, research, and mentorship. 4. Mentorship and Networking Mentorship must be cultivated early in training and profession, with greater investments in mentorship at the mid-career level when women leaders are at greatest risk for leaving the talent pipeline. This mentorship should be gender responsive equipping all with knowledge and tools to recognize gender specific challenges. 5. Research and Data Research and data should be disaggregated and reflexive in terms of sex and gender. Disaggregation of all health research, specifically accounting for sex and gender in the development of research questions, design experiments, analysis of data and reporting of results, particularly as it pertains to health systems governance.
76%
of Directors are Men
For more information, go to our website: www.womeningh.org
25%
Time to Act: Setting & Agenda for Change 1. Leadership The global health community should commit to leadership that is gender responsive and institutionalized. Gender transformative leadership is needed at all levels of global health and health systems, as it works toward eliminating gender bias and discrimination which in turn allows for full participation of all genders and ensures equitable access to opportunities.
24%
of Directors are Women
2014 Directors of Global Health Centers at Top 50 US Medical Schools [9]
73%
of MOHs are Men
23%
of MOHs are Women
2015 Global Ministers of Health [17]
30% are Men
70%* are Women
2015 Leadership at Top Foundations [18,19] *Important outliers exist, such as The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department of International Development, which only have 25% and 33% women executives, respectively.
By starting with further research and analysis on the impact of women’s leadership from design to implementation to health outcomes and further research and analysis of the mid-career “pipe-line drain” of women leaders in global health, we will begin to answer many of the questions we have regarding the impact of gender equality (or lack thereof) in health systems.
