Beyond the Numbers: Achieving Gender Equity in the Global Pharmaceutical Workforce
By Leah Osae
“Why should people be allowed or disallowed to do something? [For] me, the basic thing is always that people should be allowed because they’re human, and I shouldn’t have to justify my existence any more than that.”- Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Core Faculty Member in Women’s Studies at the University of New Hampshire (McNeill, 2019).
Women and girls deliver, serve, and respond. They listen, provide, and act. While institutional and internalized sexism, misogyny, and gender stereotyping present formidable barriers to women’s success in the sciences, women and girls still manage to remain resilient, survive, and even thrive in their professional careers. In 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted a resolution declaring the 11th of February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with two major overarching goals: to recognize the critical role of women and girls in science, technology and mathematics (STEM) and to realize gender equality as a vital conduit for achieving sustainable development (UN, 2015).
Per a recent World Health Organization (WHO) analysis, women currently account for 70% of the health and social care workforce, delivering care to approximately five billion people worldwide (Manzoor et al., 2019). However, 69% of global health organization leaders and 80% of board chairs are men (Manzoor et al., 2019). These startling statistics insinuate a deeper issue not only for the current state of global attitudes towards women and girls, but also for the progress of international health benchmarks. In particular, goal № 5 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” (UN, 2019). According to last year’s progress report on SDG № 5, women represent 39% of the world’s employment but only 27% of managerial positions (UN, 2019). Across all workforces, men disproportionately lead and manage institutions while women disproportionately provide and deliver those institutions’ services.
Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical workforce follows in this trend of gender inequity. Goal № 10 of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Pharmaceutical Workforce Development Goals (PWDGs) recommends that countries develop strategies for “addressing gender and diversity inequalities in pharmaceutical workforce development, continued education and training, and career progression opportunities” (FIP, 2016). Currently, women constitute a majority of the pharmaceutical workforce, and the average proportion of women in the workforce is projected to increase to ~72% by 2030 (FIP, 2018). Considering that women dominate the global pharmaceutical workforce by number, workplaces must promote gender equity in order to optimize the quality and efficiency of pharmaceutical institutions. Women stand at the frontlines of pharmaceutical science and healthcare and must be empowered to fulfill leadership roles at managerial and senior levels.
In FIP, the EquityRx campaign seeks to address gender inequity in the global workforce by focusing on three major goals: 1) promoting equity in the pharmacy workforce, 2) championing women in science and academia, and 3) empowering women as informal caregivers (FIP, n.d.). Although EquityRx provides a general blueprint for tackling gender inequity, pharmaceutical workforces must identify the unique barriers to achieving gender equity in their individual countries. These unique barriers may warrant different questions from country to country, including but not limited to: What are the differences between access to pharmacy education for women and girls compared to men and boys in your country? What factors contribute to the gender gap in your country? How do gender roles influence the achievability of women in pharmaceutical leadership roles? What national or local policies currently exist to ensure non-discrimination and gender equality in the workplace? If they do not exist, why? Which stakeholders must be engaged in order to enforce the social and policy changes needed to ensure equitable access to pharmacy education and leadership roles in your country?
As individuals, young pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists can promote incremental changes by identifying and understanding their own implicit biases. For example, Project Implicit provides free implicit association tests (IATs), including a Gender-Science IAT that reveals links between liberal arts and females and science and males, as well as a Gender-Career IAT that reveals links between family and females and career and males (Project Implicit, n.d.). Women in Global Health (WGH) also provides free tools and resources for individuals and organizations striving towards greater gender parity (WGH, n.d.). Furthermore, in recognition of this year’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science, FIP has announced a new initiative called the FIP Women in Science and Education (FIPWiSE) campaign. Individuals and organizations can engage with the FIPWiSE social media campaign in order to show their support for closing the global gender gap in pharmacy. No step is too small for achieving gender equity — pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists must commit to local, internal, and interdisciplinary action in order to make gender equity a reality.
References
International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). (2016). Pharmaceutical Workforce Development Goals. Retrieved from: https://www.fip.org/files/content/priority-areas/workforce/wdgs-online-version.pdf
International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). (2018). Pharmacy Workforce Intelligence: Global Trends Report. Retrieved from: https://www.fip.org/www/streamfile.php?filename=fip/PharmacyEducation/Workforce_Report_2018.pdf
International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). (n.d.). Equity Rx. Retrieved from: https://www.fip.org/activities-priorityareas-equityrx
Manzoor, M., Thompson, K., Keeling, A., Dhatt, R. (2019). Delivered by Women, Led by Men: A Gender and Equity Analysis of the Global Health and Social Workforce. Human Resources for Health Observer Series, 24. Retrieved from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/311322/9789241515467-eng.pdf
McNeill, L. (2019). Bonus: Talking Feminist Astrophysics with Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. Lady Scientists Bonus, Podcast. Retrieved from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/311322/9789241515467-eng.pdf
Project Implicit. (n.d.). Tests. Retrieved from: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatest.html
United Nations (UN). (2015). Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 22 December 2015. Retrieved from: https://undocs.org/A/RES/70/212
United Nations (UN). (2019). Sustainable Development Goals — Knowledge Platform. Retrieved from: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg5
Women in Global Health (WGH). (n.d.) Women in Global Health Tools to Implement. Retrieved from: https://www.womeningh.org/resources-tools
