Women in Healthcare at the Modern Stage
Introduction
The modern healthcare environment is highly dynamic, and the ability to successfully address the dominant and emerging challenges will largely determine the future development of the industry. One of the main problems that currently exist in this sphere refers to the inconsistencies between the number of women employed as healthcare workers and those occupying the leadership positions. According to Stone and Soujtherlan (2019), women constitute 65 percent of all healthcare workers and only 13 percent of CEOs. It implies that their role in the industry is systematically underestimated by the professional community. It results to the sub-optimal organization of the entire process and women’s inability to realize their full creative potential. The present paper focus on the challenges and biases that exist in this field and prevent women from enjoying the decent conditions for their professional and leadership development. The relevant case inquiries will be considered for illustrating the specific applications of the proposed suggestions. The reliable theory will be used for analyzing the case inquiries and integrating the theoretical and practical perspectives. Overall, the growing role of female leaders should constitute the central priority nowadays due to their unique insight in the functioning of the system and ability to provide innovative solutions to the prevailing problems.
Healthcare Environment for Women and Related Biases
It is evident that the healthcare environment does not create equal conditions for the members of both genders in making their decisions and occupying the managerial positions. While female consumers make 80 percent of all decisions in the healthcare field and the female workforce is around 65 percent, the access to the highest leadership positions is still highly restricted for women. The following statistics illustrates the fraction of women in the key positions in the healthcare organizations: senior management positions – 33%; CEOs – 13%; COOs – 29%; and CFOs – 29% (Stone & Soujtherlan, 2019). The provided statistics clearly indicates that women are underrepresented in all major leadership positions, and thy do not constitute the majority of leaders in any of them.
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There are some general factors that contribute to such a situation. They include the existing pay gap, the “good old boys” club, some implicit biases that exist in relation to women and female leaders, and childbearing. The pay gap reflects the difference in the pay rates between men and women, and it is also observed in the healthcare field. However, it may be expected that by addressing the current pay gap, i.e. by ensuring men and women receive the equal financial compensation for the work done, some obstacles to women’s occupying the leadership positions will be removed (Al-Hussami, Hammad, & Alsoleihat, 2018). The “good old boys” club represents the static and inflexible leadership system that aims at preserving its current structure rather than utilizing all available opportunities for the most rapid and efficient development with the positive implications for the ultimate consumers of healthcare services (Stone & Soujtherlan 2019). It may be expected that the open and objective public discussions will enable achieving substantial problems in this regard.
The implicit biases in relation to female leaders and women in general may refer to the belief that they are less efficient in performing many management functions and making urgent and responsible decisions. Although the objective research des not confirm such views, they continue to be observed in some healthcare organizations (Kutz, Ball, & Carroll, 2018). Childbearing is also claimed to be the objective factor contributing to the lower fraction foe women occupying the leadership positions. However, the growing number of modern women tend to reorient to career and professionals goals compared to household duties. Moreover, most female advocates do not require the fraction of female leaders to be 65-80% (proportional to their number as employees or consumers) but at least equal to that of men (Stone & Soujtherlan 2019). Overall, it is evident that the subjective factors and biases of different types are the main barriers that prevent the adequate transformation of the industry.
Benefits of Female Leaders and Case Inquiries
In order to systematically address the above biases and forms of prejudice that still exist, it is reasonable to outline the key benefits of female leaders in healthcare. First, female leaders can better comprehend the structure of needs of the patient population (as it mostly consists of women). Correspondingly, they can make the better supported decisions contributing to the higher quality of care provided. Second, the higher access to the leadership positions may lead to the higher professionalism of management teams. The reason is that most men do not face the adequate competition nowadays (as women are artificially excluded from this process). In contrast, the free and equal competition will allow selecting the most professional managers regardless of his/her gender. Third, the growing number of female leaders may contribute to the higher innovative potential and reforming of the traditional paradigm that does not meet the changing expectations of patients anymore (Kutz, Ball, & Carroll, 2018). It may include not only technological changes but also organizational and institutional reforms. Correspondingly, the entire industry may become more productive and effective in the long term.
It is possible to outline several case inquiries to elaborate on these issues in more details as well as analyze the potential strategies to be used for increasing the number of women in leadership roles. The first case inquiry is the recent case of all-female leadership team operating in the mental health organization. Comprehensive Behavioral Healthcare has adopted the revolutionary strategy for selecting only females for all leadership positions (Khemlani, 2019). Although the organization recognized the risks associated with its decision, it believed it to be more consistent with its vision as well as more productive in addressing the existing and potential mental health needs of children. Women also tend to demonstrate the better understanding of the needs of the general population about mental health. The preliminary estimates also indicate that such a strategy enables reaching the higher cultural sensitivity while working with different population groups.
The second relevant case refers to two female physicians being appointed to the leadership positions of TriStar StoneCrest Medical Center for the first time in the history of this organization (Hendrickson, 2019). The representatives of the organization stress the critical role of women in facilitating the productive change and establishing the effective communication between different members at different organizational levels. Moreover, considering the number of female providers, it is crucial to increase the number of female leaders to ensure the interests and needs of women are adequately respected. The new leaders have also outlined several challenges present in their performance. First, they have to explain the changes in the standards of care and reforms implemented to a large number of stakeholders (van Rossum et al., 2016). It should allow reducing their resistance to change with the positive implications for the quality of healthcare interventions. Second, female leaders face additional difficulties with finding the optimal work-life balance. However, despite such challenges, the growing number of female leaders is the objective necessity recognized by the growing number of organizations.
Review and Adaptation of Theory
In order to determine the realistic and effective strategies for increasing women’s role as leaders in the healthcare field, it is necessary to utilize the relevant leadership theory. The selected one refers to the social role theory that elaborates on the dominant sex differences in social behavior. This theory assumes that the main similarities and differences between men and women arise due to them being assigned to different social roles in the modern society (Belvedere, 2019). This theory also believes that the higher specialization may contribute to males and females occupying different positions in society. However, it should not be interpreted as the justification of women being homemakers and men focusing on the career growth. In fact, with the recent development of technologies and additional educational and professional opportunities available for women, the entire situation is subject to change (Stringfellow, 2017). Women have obtained a number of strategic advantages compared to men due to their better awareness of the population’s needs and ability to offer the most innovative solutions to addressing the quality and administration issues that currently exist in the health care field.
The most important aspect is that the changing social role of women will not lead to the violations of men’s rights but rather will enable establishing the equal and just conditions for the members of both genders. In fact, one’s position and career growth should be determined by one’s professional qualities rather than any unrelated characteristics such as gender, age, ethnicity, etc. (Kutz, Ball, & Carroll, 2018). However, the social role theory highly relevant as it proves that the changing social roles played by women should lead to the corresponding adjustments at different social levels. In other words, their higher activity and qualification should result in the higher likelihood of occupying the highest managerial positions.
From the perspective of the selected theory, the analyzed case inquiries allow formulating the following implications. First, even managerial teams that consist exclusively of women can be effective nowadays. Second, women are more productive than men in those spheres that require the regular re-evaluation of patient preferences and needs (Belvedere, 2019). Third, women are more flexible and pen to change the existing status-quo. Thus, their social roles are less predetermined by the traditional mode of operations observed in a specific industry. They try to ensure the maximum adaptability to the local conditions and preferences of concrete individuals. However, the main problem refers to the fact that many organizations still do not comprehend the potential benefits associated with increasing the number of women occupying the leadership positions.
The first strategy that may be recommended in this regard is conducting the objective quantitative research that will compare the effectiveness of those organizations that increased the fraction of women in leadership roles and those that rely on traditional male-dominated structures. In this way, it may be possible to obtain the scientific evidence that the higher female involvement in the leadership roles is organizationally and financially beneficial for most of healthcare organizations (Stringfellow, 2017). The second strategy is promoting the higher social and professional activity of women through both online and offline tools. They should be able to actively present their skills and vision applicable to addressing the prevailing quality and organizational issues (Al-Hussami, Hammad, & Alsoleihat, 2018). It will enable them to properly position themselves and enjoy the higher access to managerial functions. The third strategy is specifying the preferences of employees and consumers of healthcare services regarding the preferred gender of leaders. It may be expected that most of respondents will believe that leaders should be proportionally represented to the overall structure of employees in healthcare. It can also facilitate the process of considering women for the key positions in many organizations.
Discussion
The social role theory has provided new insights to be utilized while considering the objective changes that occur in perceiving the roles of males and females in managing modern healthcare organizations. The earlier gender stereotypes about functions to be performed by men and women are not relevant anymore (Stringfellow, 2017). Many women have adopted the much more active positions and increased their educational level and qualification to be able to deal with the most complicated challenges and questions (Belvedere, 2019). Thus, the theory states that their social roles should also be subject to change accordingly. At the same time, the social networks are not highly flexible, and it explains the different degrees of adjustability demonstrated by different organizations.
The analyzed cases indicate the successful examples of some organizations in recognizing the objective changes in the external conditions and gender roles’ distribution as it is applicable to the healthcare field. The cases demonstrate that modern healthcare organizations can adopt either the radical approach to promoting women and appointing them to all critical positions in the organizations or the moderate on which presupposes the gradual introduction of women to the main positions (Liu & Rhee, 2017). Both of the above approaches can be successful, and the ultimate implementation depends on the local conditions.
Overall, it seems that small organizations and those that directly depend on the maximum adjustability in interacting with clients may adopt the radical strategy and appoint the maximum number of females to the leadership positions. It is also applicable to new organizations that should effectively differentiate from their competitors within the minimal time frame (Al-Hussami, Hammad, & Alsoleihat, 2018). However, in the vast majority of cases, women should be integrated into the leadership team that includes the representatives of both genders. The empirical facts confirm the possibility of properly organizing the collaboration between men and women in a way that will contribute to reaching the maximum quality outcomes. Other things being equal, it may also contribute to reaching the maximum satisfaction in patients.
All organizations will be able to utilize a set of quality and financial assessments for considering the actual implications of increasing the fraction of women in their leadership teams. They can evaluate the dynamic of quality of care delivered to patients, clients’ satisfaction, financial sustainability of an organization, and other important parameters (Belvedere, 2019). In this way, the better supported conclusions can be made. In case the positive effects are confirmed, it may be expected that the number of women in the key positions will continue to increase. Such well-recognized industry’s experts as Dr. Lara Khoury stress the inevitable increase of women’s leadership roles in the near future due to the higher public awareness of the existing misbalances that still exist (Liu & Rhee, 2017). This trend will properly meet the expectations of both independent analysts and clients.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the provided evaluation has identified a number of challenges and difficulties experienced by modern female healthcare professionals willing to occupy the leading managerial positions in many organizations. Some biases and social stereotypes about the women’s ability to address complex situations and make timely and responsible decisions still exist. However, the growing female significance in the healthcare sector and their high qualification initiate the need for increasing their number if key positions to maximize the organizations’ potential. The application of the social role theory has confirmed the inevitable transformation of women’s career roles and positions as a result of their changed social functions. The analyzed examples have confirmed the willingness of some organizations to considerably increase the power of women and resolve the prevailing organizational challenges in this way.
There are the two main approaches being implemented in this regard: the radical one (when all managerial roles are assigned to women) and moderate one (when some positions are reserved for women). The former is more applicable to new organization that should demonstrate the maximum flexibility in challenging the current market structure. The latter is more applicable to the well-established organizations that should increase their innovative potential. However, despite the current scope of problems and organizational challenges, all healthcare organizations may benefit from increasing the number of women performing leadership functions. The further studies regarding the quality and financial implications of the higher number of women occupying the leading roles should be conducted. Moreover, the measures of sharing the positive effects of such reforms; considering the views of clients and employees on the gender structure of leadership; and promoting the women’s skills via online and offline channels may facilitate the desired transformation of the industry.
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