The Female-Dominated Health Sector Needs More Women

March 07, 2017It ' s time to provide women with more opportunities and support in the health sector.A lot has changed in health care since Peter Abwao grew up in a rural village in Kenya. Back then you couldn ’t use a cell phone to beckon a health worker in the middle of the night. There was no website a parent could consult about a child’s symptoms, and electricity in rural health facilities was exceedingly rare.But much remains the same since that night in 1986 when young Peter ran through darkness to rouse Winifred, the local nurse, to tend to his baby sister. Young boys are still afraid of the dark and growling dogs. Parents everywhere still worry when an infant ’s fever will not relent. And health care today, like it was back then, remains largely the domain of women.Women in Health CareWomen carry the heaviest burden when it comes to family caretaking duties and also make up the vast majority of frontline health workers around the world. In a sample of 123 countries, women made up 67% of employment in the health and social sectors, compared with 41% of employment across all sectors. In the US, 80% of the health workforce and 90% of registered nurses, but only 40% of executives, are women. And we know that community health workers —those most likely to provide primary health care to populations most in need—are mainly women.Women have made great strides in securing opportunities for education and employment. Health employment provides stable, remunerative caree...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: news