It's still a man's world when it comes to healthcare leadership, salaries

Bengaluru: Healthcare in India is delivered largely by women -- but led by men, according to the findings of a new report.

In a concerning instance of the 'leaky bucket' phenomenon, women comprise 29% of medical doctors and 80% of nursing staff in the country, but hold only 18% of leadership positions, a report: An Unbalanced Scale' by philanthropy foundation Dasra, shared exclusively with ET, has revealed. The report is an outcome of the multi-stakeholder Women in Leadership (WIL) initiative, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

Despite a significant presence of female workers in entry level roles, the report showed a significant under-representation of women in leadership roles, especially at the executive and board levels, across healthcare sub-sectors. Most women are focused on the frontline in low-paying jobs and women across the healthcare workforce, on average, earn 34% less than their male counterparts.

Private hospitals showed a stark gender gap with women occupying only 25-30% of leadership positions despite holding 54% of entry and middle managerial roles. The disparity is also visible in health tech where women comprise 30-40% of the workforce, but only 10-30% of leadership positions. Financial institutions (insurance) have 20-30% women representation but only 10% in leadership roles. The pharmaceutical and biotech sector has only 8% women in the workforce and 5-10% in leadership positions, the report said.

By 2030, the Indian private healthcare sector is likely to see substantial workforce expansion, adding eight million employees and generating 40,000 additional leadership roles. Notably, men are projected to occupy close to 90% of these positions, according to the Dasra report.

To break this pattern, the report stressed on the need for a targeted effort across various intervention stages - recruitment, retention, advancement - as well as policy-level solutions to ensure equitable opportunities for women in leadership roles.

Various factors such as deeprooted gender-based stereotypes questioning women's commitment and effectiveness, deep-set social norms and gender roles, and absence of flexible work arrangements are contributing to the gender inequity in healthcare leadership.