Healthcare is not a friendly industry for women in leadership, with women underrepresented on chairs and boards of directors.
That’s according to a recent study published in JAMA Network Open that examined leadership diversity at health systems, health insurance groups and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Researchers collected data from public information on each organization’s website, including data on the gender of members of the senior executive leadership teams and/or boards of directors (BODs) of selected organizations.
Researchers examined 3,911 senior executives from health systems and 1,303 from health insurance groups, plus 3,462 BODs from health systems and 1,143 from health insurance groups. In total, the study looked at 161 health systems and 108 health insurance groups, as well as 31 leadership positions at HHS.
Within HHS, 13 leadership positions, or 41.9%, were held by men, compared to 18, or 58.1%, held by women. However, HHS’ gender division was not indicative of the larger trend across healthcare organizations.
“The proportion of BOD chairpersons who were women was 17.5% in health systems and 21.3% in health insurance groups,” first author Bismarck C. Odei, MD, of the James Cancer Center at The Ohio State University, and colleagues wrote. “Only 15.3% of the CEO roles in health systems and only 15.8% of the CEO positions in health insurance groups were held by women. Among BODs and senior executive teams in both health systems and health insurance groups, we found that approximately 20% to 50% of leadership positions were filled by women.”
Interestingly, organizations that were led by a woman CEO were associated with a higher proportion of women either on the BODs or in senior executive positions.
“Although women currently represent a slight majority of the U.S. population and a large majority of the U.S. healthcare workforce, they are generally underrepresented on leadership teams, which likely diminishes their role in policy decisions that affect population and women’s health,” Odei et al. concluded.
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."