Prescription for Change: Gender Barriers Impact on Healthcare Leadership Equity

The gap in equity for women in leadership roles continues to be disparate from the representation of women in the workforce and even greater for women in healthcare. Equity in leadership in healthcare is driven by policies, procedures, and programs to intentionally promote and hire women into leadership roles. This study explored drivers of leadership equity through the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analytic framework in looking at assumed knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs towards decreasing organizational gender barriers for women to advance into leadership roles. This study was conducted with women in healthcare in various roles that support a community hospital facility. A review of literature explored gender barriers through history, and across themes that impact women’s advancement into leadership roles. The influences were identified as either assets, partial gaps, or gaps through semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed needs in areas of knowledge, motivation and a critical support theme emerged from the organization as a barrier to equity. Based on these findings a set of recommendations was provided to support both women and organizations to support aspiring women leaders. This study serves as a first step for organizations to understand the experiences of women aspiring to healthcare leadership and provides structured actions to improve these experiences as well as impact the gender gap in healthcare.