Call for more leadership roles for women

Participants say women in health sector remain grossly underpaid

ISLAMABAD:

Participants of a moot in the federal capital said women must break the invisible shackles and render services in various fields, especially in health, as the sector needed their participation the most.

They were speaking at a seminar titled “Women Leadership in Health”, organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute on World Health Day.

Former Surgeon General of Pakistan Army Lieutenant General (retd) Dr Nigar Johar Khan while addressing the participants said that women must free themselves of fears to break all barriers to work alongside men. She said the health sector needed the cooperation of all genders to perform smoothly.

Nigar Johar said women constitute two-third of the healthcare workforce yet female representation dwindles as "we progress up the hierarchy".

She urged for collective efforts and changing mindsets to break stereotypes and norms that hold back women. She stressed that empowered women must use their positions to empower other women. Parliamentary Secretary Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro emphasised the role of women legislators in increasing access of women to quality health services especially during disasters through female-centric policies and engaging with women at the grass-roots level.

SDPI Executive Director Dr Abid Suleri said that the SDGs' agenda of leaving no one behind was unattainable without a gendered analysis of policies. He further said that gender-blind policies fail to deliver to different segments of society particularly in climate disasters and reflect in PSDPs and macro-economic policies. He added women struggle to break the horizontal and vertical glass ceiling in Pakistan and despite having a female prime minister in the past, Pakistan had its first female Lieutenant General after 75 years of independence.

Women in Global Health Deputy Executive Director Dr Shabnam Sarfaraz said that women were clustered in lower status and low payment roles in the health sector. She highlighted that the global gender pay gap in health was -24%, making female professionals grossly underpaid.

She pointed out that female students take up 70% of medical college seats, outperforming male students, yet only 46% of them continue practicing after graduation while only 35% of female doctors opt for a post-graduate qualification.

She added that there was an alarming 21% exit rate among female doctors after marriage due to gender-insensitive career advancement practices. Dr Nabeela Ali, Country Representative, JSI Research and Training Institute, urged for abolishing unwritten gender norms hindering female healthcare professionals from excelling in their careers.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2023.