Embracing Equity - why we must act now for women and healthcare

Embracing Equity – why we must act now for women and healthcare

We cannot change the circumstances we are born into, but diverse people can help to create a more inclusive world. True inclusion and belonging require equitable action.

My first-hand experience of health inequity and health inequality is something that spurred on my career in healthcare. It reinforced, to me, the need for sustainable health solutions, as health inequity hinders entire communities and minorities.

The healthcare industry needs to firstly prioritize health equity at a corporate level, as well as all stages of the product life cycle. We must craft a vision of equitable access from the top, setting the purpose for our company and focusing on the challenges we must tackle. For me, embracing equity as a business leader is critical to success.

Diversity as a solution to inequities

To help achieve our vision, we must see diversity as a solution. Fresh thinking and smart decisions happen with diverse leadership. At a time when innovation in business is essential, as this well-researched HBR article highlights, one of the most competitive ways to innovate is to hire representatives of different genders, races, and nationalities – and increase female leadership.

Let me explain. Only 1.5% of UK managers, directors and senior officials are black (3.7M positions). But, the more we diversify the people we hire, the more diverse the thinking; and the better problem-solving and ideation become. Quality decision-making brings value to the business and is better for the company’s bottom line.

I’m fortunate to work at Sandoz, where we have a female representation of 50% at leadership level, and 65% of associates in the Sandoz Global Development business unit I lead are female. We foster an inclusive environment where all differences are valued, and practices are equitable – with gender equity being a huge part of our DE&I priorities. We achieve this by implementing key strategies such as diverse hiring, gender pay equity policy and providing inclusive environments for employees through our employee resource groups (‘ERGs’) - bringing together employees with shared characteristics and experiences.

I nevertheless still feel it’s important for me to be the catalyst in ensuring balance and diversity within my leadership team by ensuring female candidates are considered for advancement opportunities, and mandating that strong female candidates are considered for all leadership positions.

Specifically, at Sandoz, we look at this by analyzing the grading of female associates and initiating processes to correct disparities; to promote consistency across the board based on capabilities, experience, and tenure.

I mentor women from Black and Asian backgrounds, which has led to them pursuing careers in STEM. If you look at the proportion of women entering sciences, it is roughly the same as men, but unfortunately, they encounter biases and microaggressions which prevent them from getting into positions of leadership.

Paving the way

I recently completed my master’s dissertation, “Black Female Leaders in STEM - Reconciling Identity and Purpose with the challenges in the Workplace”. My focus was on how to address the challenges of women in STEM today, and recommend a strategy to address self-identity in the face of unconscious bias and lack of diversity in STEM.

I interviewed ten women from different backgrounds and industries for my dissertation. Interestingly, we all had similar experiences with stereotyping and bias. More often than not, many of these professional women, especially from underprivileged backgrounds, grow tired of combating these prejudices on a daily basis and stop pursuing growth opportunities in their careers. This is a huge loss to the workforce and to the cause of equity.

This is just one of the reasons Black women are under-represented in the workforce and the top percentile of incomes. This is one among many reasons why we need to create a more diverse workplace. We have to create an environment where more people have the permission to show up openly and be themselves in a psychologically safe environment. Critically, we are then better equipped to ensure minority communities are considered and accounted for in an equitable way.

I am driven to step up as an ambassador for ethnic minorities and use my position to realize and drive greater equitable access to healthcare, as well as fostering a culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace.

With that in mind, here’s what female leaders could do to empower others to act: 

·       Champion the cause of having more diversity in leadership by ensuring the topic is discussed in leadership forums

·       Use your influence to increase visibility at internal and external events

·       Be a mentor and encourage others to be mentors and mentees  

·       Educate organizations on how drive motivation and provide opportunity for women employees to develop through coaching, partnering, and sponsoring

·       Join a female leaders or minority organization to learn and share best practices and support our collective growth

·       Create diverse roles to make sure there is opportunity for both women and men 

Be the change you want to see

#EmbraceEquity shouldn’t be a buzzword for International Women’s Day, nor something we acknowledge publicly once a year. Those who are truly creating a sea change are working to build diverse teams, being empathetic to the needs of patients from minority groups, relentlessly challenging societal norms and biases, and being kind to one another. This #IWD, I urge you to coach yourself on noticing inequities and act now to be the change you want to see in the world.