The global push for feminism includes a range of topics from equal pay and employment to abortion rights. As healthcare becomes increasingly consumer-focused, the healthcare industry needs to pay much more attention to women.
The majority of women are the decision makers when it comes to healthcare for family members, according to a multi-market survey by the Center for Talent Innovation. It included 9,218 respondents from the US, UK, Germany, Japan, and Brazil. That majority gap widens even more when accounting for working mothers with kids. Among the healthcare decisions these women make include choosing doctors, insurance providers and treatment plans for themselves and their families.
Even though these decisions must be made, the report found that 77 percent of women don’t know what they need to do to stay healthy because the majority of them don’t have the time to figure it out. Most of the women in the report don’t trust online information, their insurance provider and the company that makes their medicine.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
Doctors aren’t exactly helping get out necessary information either. The survey found they need to do a better job of improving communication.
Women have been, and still are, excluded from clinical trials of new medicine. A report from researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston recognized that because those involved with new medicine don’t consider the differences between how it would affect men and women. Doing this inhibits our ability to correctly identify how medicine impacts the health of both men and women.
The report further explained how researchers aren’t exactly helping include women more accurately in trials by stating that not enough women compared to men are actually enrolled in the clinical trials, and when women are involved in the trials, reports fail to analyze the men’s and women’s data separately. Both of these biased methods are hindering the ability to identify potential differences that could hugely impact overall health.
Even though our past seems bleak for women’s role in healthcare, there’s still hope for the future. Doctors, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies can start instilling trust in women again by letting them know exactly what they should know in regards to their personal health and the health of their families.
Healthcare companies can also gain women’s trust by putting them in positions of power. In our century, power roles, like CEOs, aren’t just meant to be for men. Rock Health reported that women make up an overwhelming majority (78 percent) of healthcare workers, but only 4 percent hold CEO titles.
Appointing women to C-level roles isn’t just some strategic move for feminism; companies should do it because it makes sense. The same Rock Health report revealed that even though men would rate themselves more than 20 percent more effective leaders than women do, colleagues rated women higher than men based on their effectiveness as leaders.
Women leaders in the healthcare industry are able to appeal to the female healthcare decision makers because they are able to use their own experiences and inform women of what they need to know when they need to know it.
As healthcare companies begin to bring women into higher roles, both trust and business will grow. The industry needs to start recognizing women’s needs and potential in order to expand healthcare in a positive, productive direction.
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