It's still a man's world when it comes to healthcare leadership, salaries
women — but led by men, according to the findings of a new report.
In a concerning instance of the 'leaky bucket' phenomenon, women comprise 29% of medical doctors and 80% of nursing staff in the country, but hold only 18% of leadership positions, a report: An Unbalanced Scale' by philanthropy foundation Dasra, shared exclusively with ET, has revealed. The report is an outcome of the multi-stakeholder Women in Leadership (WIL) initiative, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
Despite a significant presence of female workers in entry level roles, the report showed a significant under-representation of women in leadership roles, especially at the executive and board levels, across healthcare sub-sectors.
Most women are focused on the frontline in low-paying jobs and women across the healthcare workforce, on average, earn 34% less than their male counterparts.
Private hospitals showed a stark gender gap with women occupying only 25-30% of leadership positions despite holding 54% of entry and middle managerial roles. The disparity is also visible in health tech where women comprise 30-40% of the workforce, but only 10-30% of leadership positions.
Financial institutions (insurance) have 20-30% women representation but only 10% in leadership roles. The pharmaceutical and biotech sector has only 8% women in the workforce and 5-10% in leadership positions, the report said.
By 2030, the Indian private healthcare sector is likely to see substantial workforce expansion, adding eight million employees and generating 40,000 additional leadership roles.
