UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, University College Dublin, Ireland.
Mbeya Campus College, Mzumbe University, Tanzania.
Ann Glob Health. 2024 Mar 28;90(1):24. doi: 10.5334/aogh.4374. eCollection 2024.
Women constitute almost two thirds of the health and social workforce. Yet, the proportion of women in decision-making positions remains significantly low leading to gender inequities in access to and appropriateness of healthcare. Several barriers which limit women's advancement to leadership positions have been documented and they generally constitute of gender stereotypes, discrimination and inhibiting systems; these hinderances are compounded by intersection with other social identities. Amelioration of the barriers has the potential to enhance women's participation in leadership and strengthen the existing health systems.
This protocol describes a proposed study aimed at addressing the organisational and individual barriers to the advancement of women to leadership positions in the Tanzanian health sector, and to evaluate the influence on leadership competencies and career advancement actions of the female health workforce.
The study utilises a gender transformative approach, co-design and implementation science in the development and integration of a leadership and mentorship intervention for women in the Tanzanian health context. The key steps in this research include quantifying the gender ratio in healthcare leadership; identifying the individual and organisational barriers to women's leadership; reviewing existing leadership, mentorship and career advancement interventions for women; recruiting programme participants for a leadership and mentorship programme; running a co-design workshop with programme participants and stakeholders; implementing a leadership and mentorship programme; and conducting a collaborative evaluation and lessons learnt.
This research underscores the notion that progression towards gender equality in healthcare leadership is attained by fashioning a system that supports the advancement of women. We also argue that one of the pivotal indicators of progress towards the gender equality sustainable development goal is the number of women in senior and middle management positions, which we hope to further through this research.
女性占卫生和社会劳动力的近三分之二。然而，决策职位中的女性比例仍然明显较低，导致在获得医疗保健和医疗保健的适当性方面存在性别不平等。已经记录了限制妇女晋升领导职位的几个障碍，这些障碍通常包括性别刻板印象、歧视和抑制系统；这些障碍因与其他社会身份的交叉而加剧。消除这些障碍有可能增强妇女对领导地位的参与度，并加强现有的卫生系统。
本方案描述了一项拟议研究，旨在解决坦桑尼亚卫生部门妇女晋升领导职位的组织和个人障碍，并评估女性卫生工作者的领导能力和职业发展行动对领导能力的影响。
该研究采用性别转换方法、共同设计和实施科学，在坦桑尼亚卫生背景下开发和整合一项针对女性的领导和指导干预措施。该研究的关键步骤包括：量化医疗保健领导中的性别比例；确定女性领导的个人和组织障碍；审查现有的女性领导、指导和职业发展干预措施；为领导和指导计划招募方案参与者；与方案参与者和利益相关者开展共同设计研讨会；实施领导和指导计划；以及进行协作评估和经验教训总结。
这项研究强调了这样一种观点，即通过构建一个支持妇女晋升的系统，朝着医疗保健领导性别平等的方向取得进展。我们还认为，朝着性别平等可持续发展目标取得进展的一个关键指标是高级和中级管理层中妇女的人数，我们希望通过这项研究进一步提高这一数字。
