By Shailja Mehta & Yamini Atmavilas
In the ever-evolving landscape of leadership, the challenge of gender disparity presents a significant hurdle. Despite being known for its dynamic growth and substantial employment opportunities, India’s private healthcare sector faces a noticeable underrepresentation of women in leadership roles. Though it employs over half of the total healthcare workforce, women’s presence in leadership positions is disproportionately low. In the more specialised fields of pharmaceuticals and biotech, female leadership is even scarcer, with representation barely touching the 5-10% range. This gender gap transcends mere equity concerns, carrying profound economic implications for the nation, given the sector’s status as one of the top five largest employers with over 4.7 million direct employees.
An Unbalanced Scale, a report released by Dasra, highlights this disparity. Despite dominating lower-level positions, women hold only 18% of leadership roles in the private healthcare sector and earn 34% less than their male counterparts. This stark gender imbalance not only restricts women’s influence within their organisations but also poses a significant threat to the overall growth and profitability of these institutions. With a projected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11-13%, the sector anticipates growth driven by increased healthcare expenditure and a rising demand for generic drugs. However, the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles stands as a significant hurdle to unlocking the sector’s full growth potential. Global research attests that firms with more women in executive leadership positions are 21% more likely to outperform the average. Neglecting this issue could result in missed opportunities for women, hinder overall sector growth, and perpetuate economic disparities.
Solving this leadership gender gap requires a comprehensive, multi-level approach, as highlighted in The Udaiti Foundation’s Pathways to Progress report. At the individual level, empowering initiatives such as mentorship programs and leadership skilling can equip women to ascend the organisational ladder with confidence. Tied to this is the implementation of diversity targets—organisations must proactively implement representation targets across all levels, signalling a desire for progress from the top. Fostering a culture of inclusivity, with equitable allocation of financial and employee resources to rising leaders in middle management, regardless of their gender, is also vital.
Addressing the limited pipeline of women employees, in pharmaceutical firms particularly, is required, where just 8-12% of all employees are women. To counter this, adopting successful strategies in other sectors like banking and financial services could be beneficial. Especially, return-to-work programs that could facilitate the seamless reintegration of women into the workforce after career breaks, potentially transforming the private healthcare sector’s landscape. At the public policy level, it is essential to move beyond the tokenistic mandate of having at least one woman per board towards fostering more substantial support for the development of women employees into leadership roles. Government-led incentives can play a pivotal role, drawing inspiration from successful initiatives like Japan’s ‘Nadeshiko Brands’, which highlight companies with equitable gender policies and representation as appealing investment opportunities with promising long-term growth prospects.
Additionally, intentional public commitments by industry bodies such as recognising and rewarding existing women leaders, extending capacity building grants for women in mid-management, committing to host gender balanced conference panels among others, will foster a culture of inclusivity and advance gender diversity initiatives. The recent announcement at the world economic forum of the ‘Alliance for Global Good—Gender Equity and Equality’ is a welcome step in this direction.
The strategies discussed for addressing the issue of women’s leadership in the private health sector rely on a robust conceptual framework that distinguishes between transactional and transformational leadership, as well as between leadership qualities that are ascribed or intrinsic. This framework provides a dual focus: it not only increases the representation of women in leadership roles, but also enhances the effectiveness of women employees in the sector. When integrated with the traditional socio-ecological model, which examines the intricate dynamics between the individual, interpersonal relationships, community or organisational structures, and societal or public policy, it provides a comprehensive approach to program design, especially in initiatives aimed at organisational and systemic change. Through this lens, several key levers emerge that can accelerate women’s advancement in leadership within the health sector, including individual leadership development, fostering supportive workplace cultures, providing institutional support, and promoting sector-wide commitment and action.
As such, shifting the needle on women’s representation, choice, and voice in leadership requires top-level support, policy mandates, the cultivation of male allies, and gender-transformative organisational change approaches. Addressing these challenges is essential for unlocking the full potential of women, ensuring sectoral growth, and promoting inclusive economic development. As India sets its sights on Mission 2047, fostering an environment that embraces women’s leadership is not just a matter of equity. It is a strategic imperative for the future of the sector and the nation. Breaking these barriers is not only a societal obligation but a pathway to a more prosperous and inclusive healthcare landscape.
The author is Dasra Director, coauthored by Yamini Atmavilas, president-strategy, data & applied research, Udaiti Foundation
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