It seems like every conversation about women in a particular industry at some point brings up the question: Should we really be focusing on gender? In a #HIT Chicks Twitter chat between women in health IT as part of National Health IT week, the answer seemed to fall along the lines of no, but yes, but no.
Jennifer Denard, social marketing director with Billians, drew attention to stats from its report on Women in the Hospital C-Suite published last month as an interesting healthcare IT trend. It showed that only 30 percent of the CIOs for 4,264 hospitals are women, compared with 88.5 percent who are Chief Nursing Officers at 6,547 hospitals.
One challenge is first attracting women to STEM careers, but another is keeping them on the path to C-level positions. A survey a few years back by CIO magazine suggested that hospital CIOs tend to be the oldest compared with other industries with an average age of 49. I’m not a mother myself but it’s not difficult to understand that it’s tough to balance the battling priorities of raising a family and career commitments.
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And yet several women appear on The Health Care blog post on suggested people to replace Farzad Mostashari when he leaves his post as head of the Office of National Coordinator this fall. A comment by one participant recounting a phone chat with a hospital CEO and being interrupted by her baby in the background drew many retweets like this one.
Yes! RT @lifedashcourt THIS makes me feel great! RT @sarahbennight Hospital CEO mom on a conf call w/ baby crying in background. #HITchicks
— Jessica Clifton (@jslentzclifton) September 19, 2013
That’s the kind of encouragement women need to keep the healthcare C- suite in their sites. On the other hand, there’s a dilemma between emphasizing maternal instincts and wanting to focus on experience and skills. If women highlight their mothering skills as a quality that makes them a good director, it seems like they’re undermining the argument to get beyond gender and focus on merits. One of the comments on the Tweetchat touched on that point to some extent.
Stayaway from stereotypical terms “nice” “hardworking”, terms for women and instead focus on exceeding goals & accomplishments #HITchicks — Penny Layne (@PennyLaynePerks) September 19, 2013
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The biggest need seems to be mentorship programs or at least advice on how to seek out, identify and connect with mentors positioned to offer valuable insights on the industry. @lynne_t_gordon Any advice on how to seek out a mentor? Look within industry, or to different industry, for example? #HITchicks
So what we need is a list of HIT Chick mentors. Anyone have a list? And can we include female entrepreneurs in HIT too? #HITchicks — Beth Friedman (@HealthITPR) September 19, 2013
@SmyrnaGirl #HITchicks Find mentors who are leaders in their field, who you connect with on a personal level and whose advice you trust — Lynne Thomas Gordon (@Lynne_T_Gordon) September 19, 2013
Sandberg’s “Lean In” addresses mentorship—you can’t just ask “will you be my mentor?”; must 1st find people w/whom you work well #HITchicks — Elizabeth Bacon (@ebacon) September 19, 2013
T3: Mentors are critical to growing personally & professionally. A personal connection is key. Don’t worry about gender. #HITChicks — AHIMA Resources (@AHIMAResources) September 19, 2013
Remember the classic Thank you note. So important to send to Mentors cc: @tom_peters @Lynne_T_Gordon @SmyrnaGirl #hitchicks — Lisa Fields (@PracticalWisdom) September 19, 2013
30 percent of CIOs are women according t data from Billians healthcare
The big issue is that mentorship programs are almost nonexistent. Good leadership doesn’t just happen. It is cultured #HITchicks — Nanette Nuessle, MD (@DrNanN) September 19, 2013
