Gender Equity Hub
The Gender Equity Hub is a thematic Hub in the World Health Organization Global Health Workforce Network. It is co-chaired by Women in Global Health (WGH) and WHO. The purpose of the Hub is to accelerate large-scale gender-transformative progress to address gender inequities and biases in the health and social workforce for the Sustainable Development Goals.
One of the key outputs from the Hub is the report Delivered by Women, Led by Men: A Gender and Equity Analysis of the Global Health and Social Workforce. This was published in March 2019 at the 63rd Commission on the Status of Women. The report points to workplace gender biases, discrimination and inequities that are systemic in the health workforce. It lays the foundation for gender transformative policy action that will be driven by the Working For Health program, of the WHO, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the International Labour Organization (ILO), with support from the Hub.
Policy Action Papers
Closing the Leadership Gap
GENDER EQUITY HUB: has released a new WHO Policy Action Paper Closing the leadership gap: gender equity and leadership in the global health and care workforce is launched on 8th June 2021 by the WHO’s Global Health Workforce Network’s Gender Equity Hub, in collaboration with Women in Global Health. The Action Paper explores the status of women in leadership in the health and care sector, which employs 164 million women worldwide, and the negative impact for women and health systems of their underrepresentation in leadership. The Action Paper contributes insights into women’s leadership in health and care and policy interventions to ensure more gender-equitable and representative leadership.
Delivered by Women, Led by Men
GENDER EQUITY HUB: has released a report on the current state of gender equity in the global health and social workforce. Launched in March 2019 at the 63rd Commission on the Status of Women, the report, Delivered by Women, Led by Men: A Gender and Equity Analysis of the Global Health and Social Workforce, points to workplace gender biases, discrimination and inequities that are systemic in the health workforce. The report lays the foundation for gender transformative policy action that will be driven by the Working For Health program, of the World Health Organization, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the International Labour Organization (ILO), with support from the Hub
Closing the Leadership Gap Launch Event
Women comprise nearly 70% of the global health and social workforce yet it is estimated they hold only 25% of senior leadership roles. During the #COVID19 pandemic women have provided much of the health and care but have not had an equal say in decision-making. This pervasive leadership gap between women and men in health can only be closed by addressing systemic barriers to women’s advancement. Without closing the gender leadership gap in health, we lose out on women’s expertise.
To address this gap through Gender-Transformative Policies, Global Health Workforce Network’s Gender Equity Hub, co-chaired by Women in Global Health and World Health Organization launched its first in the series of policy action papers “Closing the leadership gap: gender equity and leadership in the global health and care workforce” on June 2021.
Latest Report News & Resources
- Read the article from our partner, the WHO, on the 10 key issues in ensuring gender equity in the global health workforce
- Read the commentary by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO: Female health workers drive global health
- Watch the “Delivered by Women, Led by Men” report release event here
