Cracking the Glass (Hospital) Ceiling: gender diversity in health care -

Cracking the Glass (Hospital) Ceiling: gender diversity in health care

July 22, 2016 by MHA @ GW staff

Although women represent 75 percent of the labor care health, and are the primary decision makers regarding their families' health care needs, they are still underrepresented in regard to leadership roles in the industry. Women also earn bachelor's and graduate studies, such as those available through online master of health administration programs at higher rates than men, which means that there will be a number growing highly prepared women leaders available to bridge the gender gap persists in the 21st century world of health care. As healthcare organizations continue to become more complex, the need for excellent leaders increases, making it essential to hire and retain talented women executives to thrive in an environment increasingly competitive today .

Positions and delayed-Pay

according to a 2012 study by the American College of Healthcare Executives, women reaching positions of Chief Executive Officer at half the rate of men, and only about 26 percent of the heads of the US leadership that oversee hospitals were women. Although roughly the same amount of experience and level of education, women's care managers surveyed in 2011 earned about 20 percent less than their male counterparts. This represents a gap comparable to previous studies in 190, 1995, 00 and 06.

Rock Health, a venture capital fund that supports the launch of digital health, reported similar results in " the State of women in health 2015, "noting that" women represent only 21 percent of managers and 21 percent of the members of the board of Fortune 500 healthcare companies. Of the 125 women who wear an enforcement order, only five are used in roles as COO or president of operations. And there is only one CEO of the wife of a Fortune 500 company health care "However, the organization also noted that the hospital's diversity was slightly better". a Thomson Reuters 100 Top hospitals, women represent 27 percent of hospital boards, and 34 percent of the leadership teams. There are 97 women who wear a title level C in these hospitals and 10 women serve as CEO of the hospital. "

contributing factors

As an indication of the slow progress, it was 1995 when the first glass ceiling Commission identified four categories of obstacles prevented women from advancing to leadership positions :. business and affairs of the corporation, governmental and internal structural barriers Unfortunately, many of these conditions exist today in a variety of iterations, such as: ...

• The absence of conditions of flexible working to care for the family
• the absence of comprehensive federal policy paid parental leave
• a persistent wage gap
• an inability to access to informal networks pipelines are key to promotion.
• Lower levels of confidence and career ambition.
• The lack of a sponsor to promote their skills and abilities with others to help them move up the organizational ladder.
• gender stereotypes and differences in communication.

co-founder rock Energy Halle Tecco wrote that of 400 women surveyed health care, 96 percent of them believe that gender discrimination still exists and nearly half cited sex as " one of the biggest obstacles encountered professionally. "Tecco note that these are not one-time events, but" microinequities "that accumulate on the career of a woman and create work environments that prevent women from advance

the American College of Healthcare Executives agree :. "It is not enough of a barrier at the top but rather myriad obstacles to many times. To promote gender diversity and ensure a qualified candidate pool for the top positions, health care organizations must consider not only the policies affecting the advancement of women in the C-suite or top management positions but also on policies affecting the development and retention of female managers at all levels. "

Progress

In an effort to better understand current feelings on gender diversity, rock surveyed Energy 50 people, 38 women and 12 men. The results showed a positive trend in the how women perceive career development opportunities, although some felt that gender discrimination is still a problem in all health care entities. However, women who have identified such discrimination, 76 percent said they see equal career development opportunities within their organizations and 95 percent "felt respected by their colleagues without having to change their behaviors to integrate."

of such positive sentiments are probably due to specific efforts that some health care systems and the companies are doing to close the gender gap. in the Rock health survey, improvements in the hiring process were the most common types of cited initiatives, including experiments with job titles to attract a larger pool of candidates and to be more specific in seeking recruitment in terms of finding women executives. Others cited diversity initiatives include the recognition and promotion of policies, mentoring programs, and women in leadership programs.

The American College of Healthcare Executives survey, which included 806 men and women health care executives, revealed similar results, finding that many health care organizations seeking to create greater diversity at senior levels through various programs and policies. These include the processes associated with:

• Structuring groups to include women in decision-making
• provide opportunities for advancement
• Offering rewards those that help to correct gender imbalances .. in the top management.
• the recruitment of a wider range of candidates.
• Provide flexible working arrangements.
• frameworks help accommodate the needs of their families.

Furthermore, many organizations have general policies in place "that encourage promotion from within the organization, establish pro-diversity initiatives to business objectives and express zero tolerance for sexual harassment, "according to the survey.

Building a Better Business

Ensure that women have equal opportunities for management positions is not only good thing to do, but it is also good for the bottom line. There have been many studies showing the direct correlation between having women managers and experiencing positive business results, including a recent global study of the Peterson Institute . international economy of nearly 22 000 enterprises He revealed that having more women in several senior management positions has led to increased profitability of the organization: "When we looked profitable companies in our sample (average net margin of 6.4%), we found that from not having women in corporate leadership (CEO, board of directors and other C-suite positions) to a share 30% of women is associated with an increase of one percentage point in net margin -. resulting in a 15% increase in the profitability of a business-type "

As Tecco wrote:" Having a diverse team creates a positive virtuous circle Companies with women business leaders outperform. the stock market, and companies with women on their boards outperform men alone panels by 26 percent. the researchers even believe that the transition from one office to gender desks divided equally between men and women can . be associated with a sales gain of 41 percent "

Looking Ahead

Although the glass ceiling appears largely intact, the researchers say that we are making progress: "Although there are still significant progress to be made, the state of gender diversity is moving in a positive direction .... with greater transparency around the theme of diversity and gender equality sexes, several individuals engaged in conversation to encourage positive change. "

What do you think? Are we a trend in the right direction? What can we do to advocate for women in health care, especially leadership roles? What types of strategies , attitudes or legislation can help women better represented in this growing industry? connect with us on Twitter or Facebook and join the conversation.