Women health workers are on the frontlines of crisis response, yet they often face heightened risks of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (SEAH)—especially in conflict zones, displacement camps, and fragile health systems. On November 26, 2024, Women in Global Health convened a critical webinar alongside its global chapters to address these urgent challenges.
This report captures the key discussions from the event, highlighting the impact of the global displacement crisis, the role of community health workers (CHWs) in preventing SEAH, and the urgent need for stronger protection mechanisms. It brings together insights from global health leaders, policy experts, and frontline responders to advocate for effective Prevention of SEAH (PRSEAH) strategies, improved reporting systems, and survivor-centered approaches.
A recent policy report by Women in Global Health revealed the widespread problem of sexual violence and harassment (SEAH) experienced by women health workers. Roopa Dhatt and Mariam Dahir set out recommendations for bringing an end to SEAH in global health.
Although women comprise 70 per cent of the overall health workforce and 90 per cent of frontline staff, men occupy three-quarters of the leadership positions in health. Ironically, women are already leading health service delivery – and are doing it well as they have demonstrated throughout the pandemic. But they are clustered in roles accorded lower status and lower pay, and it is this power imbalance that exposes them to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH), according to a recent policy report from our organisation, ‘Women in Global Health’.
The global health sector is dominated by women—70 percent of the jobs are in women’s hands. And yet, a new report from Women in Global Health shows that women are drastically underrepresented in global health leadership, holding just 25 percent of the top jobs.
In New York, on Sept. 21, the U.S. government is set to host the seventh replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS/HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The event is an important milestone in global health with significant impact for millions of people worldwide that are dependent on this funding
By Women in Global Health. Originally posted on Devex.
Authors: Kim Robin van Daalen, Maisoon Chowdhury, Sara Dada, Parnian Khorsand, Salma El-Gamal, Galiya Kaidarova,
Laura Jung, Razan Othman, Charlotte Anne O’Leary, Henry Charles Ashworth, Anna Socha, Dolapo Olaniyan, Fajembola Temilade Azeezat, Siwaar Abouhala, Toyyib Abdulkareem, Roopa Dhatt, & Dheepa Rajan.
A new report by Women in Global Health highlights how many health systems are dependent upon women from the world’s poorest communities working for free or for extremely low pay to deliver essential health care.
Six million women “work unpaid and underpaid in core health systems roles, effectively subsidizing global health with their unpaid and underpaid labor,” states the report. “Typically, these women are from low-income families, with limited education, working as community health workers (CHWs) in their local communities.”
The COVID-19 pandemic was a stress test for the health sector, which is one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world, and also one of the largest employers of women. Women are 70% of the health and social care workforce and 90% of nurses but they are clustered into jobs that are lower paid, often unpaid, and given lower social status.
When I first arrived to work in Pakistan in 1989, I would regularly visit villages where mothers had died in childbirth, often with their newborns. The health system just didn’t reach that far.
I had arrived in Pakistan with my own young baby and we were both healthy. Because the health system reached us.
The previous year a young female Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, had replaced a military dictator. She asked how health services could reach women in remote, conservative communities.
So, in 1994 the Lady Health Workers Programme was launched. For the first time in Pakistan, the health system reached women just about everywhere.
For 20 years, on and off, I watched those women become the backbone of the health system, battling low pay, dealing with harassment, and travelling long distances on foot. Sometimes they weren’t paid at all.
Article originally posted on Thompson Reuters Foundation News
Women are 70% of health workers across the world, lead and shoulder a significant proportion of the pandemic response, and play key roles in health systems all over the world. Many of these women, particularly those in lower income countries work as volunteers, in low paid or underpaid roles and without any social protection, they are ofter referred to as Community Health Workers and they need a new social contract to keep caring for us.
Volunteer women health workers across the world have been lauded for their sacrifice and commitments, but they have not been rewarded with decent work, equal pay, or gender parity in leadership. It is time for the leaders to wake up to their call. Health and care workers need a new social contract with fair pay, equal leadership, safe and decent working conditions and workplaces free from violence and harassment!
When the story of the pandemic is written, will history record that women -as 70% of health and care workers and 90% of nurses- carried us through this global health emergency?
This viewpoint addresses the lack of gender diversity in medical leadership in Latin America and the gap in evidence on gender dimensions of the health workforce.
Originally posted on Lancet Regional Health Americas
Gender equal leadership is absent from WHO’s executive board, with women accounting for under 10% of the 34 members. We are shocked, outraged, and driven to demand a radical shift toward gender equality in global health governance.
Any limitations on the autonomy and mobility of women and girls will add a significant burden to an already strained healthcare system, write Laura Jung, Lilly Khorsand, Anita Afzali, Mariam Mariam Dahir, Mohammad Yasir Essar, and Roopa Dhatt.
In 2015, practising physician Roopa Dhatt and her colleagues wangled their way into the World Health Assembly in Geneva, and counted how many of the chief delegates representing countries were women. It was 23%, despite women making up 70% of the global health and social workforce.
Personal protective equipment is often designed for men, and that is leaving female health workers further exposed to infection amid the pandemic, global health professionals say.
“This is a universal issue as most PPE is designed for U.S. and European males and are too big for many females and Asian health care workers,” Dr. Michelle Acorn, chief nurse at theInternational Council of Nurses, said. This is despite women making up close to 70% of the global health workforce.
Research conducted last year in the United Kingdom revealed respiratory equipment “poorly fit” 16.7% of female health workers compared to 7.6% of men. PPE — including gloves, goggles, face masks, visors, or protective suits — that doesn’t fit properly leaves users exposed to harmful substances or chemicals as well as infections.
Originally published on Devex. Article Written by Rebecca L. Root.
President Joe Biden’s first foreign trip for high-level meetings in Europe was intended as a strong signal to the world that “America is back.” While he was largely referring to the return to diplomatic leadership, the significant commitment that the United States and the Group of Seven countries made to provide more than 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses for the world also highlights the return of the United States as a leader in global health.
Such efforts resume a U.S. history of bipartisan leadership on global health, as demonstrated by initiatives like the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which was launched by President George W. Bush in 2003 and has saved 20 million lives in more than 50 countries.
As the Biden-Harris administration works to restitch the U.S. mantle of global leadership, Congress is also using its annual appropriations bill to address how certain U.S. policies on global health reduce the effectiveness of foreign aid and take action to ensure U.S. health policy increases — rather than decreases — access to care worldwide. At the top of that list is the Global Gag Rule.
Covid-19 impacts men, women, and non-binary genders differently—and not equally. The virus is not gender blind, but evidence shows that over 80% of covid-19 health policies ignore gender, with serious consequences for everyone’s health and wellbeing. Globally, men compared to women experience a higher severity of illness and mortality from covid-19. The pandemic might therefore be perceived as a “men’s health emergency.” The reality, however, is far more complex.
Women may have lower mortality rates, but they bear the brunt of the major secondary impacts of the covid-19 pandemic, which have worsened their already weaker social and economic status. The pandemic has led to increases in gender based violence, unwanted pregnancies, stillbirths, and maternal deaths. Anxiety and depression in women have risen, and more girls have been forced out of school and into child marriages. Women have more exposure to covid-19 in the workplace as they constitute 70% of health and social care workers globally, and have faced more challenges returning to work. People of non-binary genders have also experienced the negative effects of sex-specific covid-19 lockdown measures adopted by some countries, and have struggled to obtain appropriate sexual, reproductive, and mental healthcare.
Originally published in BMJ Opinion.
By Peter Baker, Ann Keeling, Arush Lal, Chadia Wannous, and Mahesh Puri
The authors note the disparity between leadership roles of men and women in global health and its effect on the response to COVID-19. The work of their organization Women in Global Health is described, including “launching a Gender Equal Health and Care Workforce Initiative in 2021 in partnership with the Government of France and World Health Organization, convening governments and international organizations to leverage commitments for safe and decent work, equal pay and an equal say in leadership for women in health and social care.” They note that women are “80 percent of the world’s nurses and 90 percent of the frontline health workers.” Yet the reality is that “women still deliver health systems led by men.” The authors outline their vision for global health leadership; in brief, and in their words: First, we must change the narrative and see women as drivers of global health, not solely as users of health systems…. Second, women in health and social care need a new social contract… Third, COVID-19 showed that viruses do not respect national borders and we live in an interconnected world… Fourth, beyond gender parity in global health leadership, we need leaders of all genders to be gender transformative leaders.
2020 will go down in history as the year a global pandemic infected around 100 million people worldwide and caused the deaths of nearly 2 million. History, however, is not generally written by women, and there is a danger that history will not record the extraordinary contribution made by the women who comprise 70 percent of health workers and have been on the pandemic frontlines delivering care and saving lives, putting their own health and safety at risk. When the story of the pandemic is written, the credit may go instead to the men, who hold 75 percent of senior decision-making roles in health, even though they are in a minority in the sector. Even more concerning, the world may once again miss an opportunity to leverage women’s important contributions to the health sector by restoring gender equity in the many emerging jobs in the sector and increasing their role in leadership positions.
COVID-19 is a break in history and a chance to fix the structural weaknesses, including gender inequality, in our health and social systems so we can better withstand future shocks. This is our opportunity to rebuild global health security on a stronger and more equal foundation by ensuring that the women who deliver health and social care are leading the systems they know best.
Originally published in Leader to Leader
By Roopa Dhatt and Ann Keeling, Women in Global Health
The G7 meets during an exceptional time in our global history when covid-19 has infected around 175 million people and caused nearly four million deaths. The pandemic is far from over and it will not be the last. It has tipped the world into a deep global recession, felt hardest by countries and social groups with the least protection, at the centre of which are women and girls.
A “shadow pandemic” has struck women who have been the first to lose their jobs and experienced increases in both unpaid work and intimate partner violence. In low income countries, disruptions to maternal and reproductive health services have increased maternal deaths, unwanted pregnancies, and unsafe abortions. Growing poverty has forced girls out of school and into child marriages.
Viruses do not respect national borders. Unlike Ebola, this pandemic came into cities, hospitals, and homes in G7 countries. In an interconnected world we cannot safeguard the health of our own citizens when ignoring the rest of the world. While the virus continues to spread outside the G7, it may come back to haunt countries that have vaccinated their citizens. The G7 has to make this a break in history, change direction, and resolve to invest in a future based on equality and equity—the only solid foundation for global health and economic security.
Originally published in the BMJ Opinion
By Roopa Dhatt and Ann Keeling, Women in Global Health
Women comprise almost 70% of the global health and care workforce but hold only 25% of senior leadership positions. A new WHO Policy Action Paper Closing the leadership gap: gender equity and leadership in the global health and care workforcelaunched on 8th June 2021 by the WHO’s Global Health Workforce Network’s Gender Equity Hub, which is co-chaired by WHO and Women in Global Health. The Policy Action Paper explores the current status of women in leadership in the health and care sector, which employs millions of women worldwide, and the negative impact for women and health systems of their underrepresentation in leadership. The Policy Action Paper contributes insights into women’s leadership in health and care and policy interventions to ensure more gender equitable and representative leadership.
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is currently the most hotly debated and visionary goal in global health. In 2015 all UN member states committed under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2016- 2030 to:
“Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.” SDG Goal 3, Target 3.8
All Roads Lead to Universal Health Coverage –and Women Will Deliver It
Ann Keeling, Policy Fellow, Women in Global Health
The recent resurgence of #MeToo on social media brought up many memories and sparked discussions amongst our team at Women in Global Health. It also prompted an exploration of my own trajectory in health and the various times at which sexual harassment impacted my career and experiences.
Written by: Kelly Thompson, Gender Specialist, Women in Global Health
Collaborators: Mehr Manzoor, Ann Keeling, Alexandra Williams, Women in Global Health
Dr. Roopa Dhatt, Executive Director of Women in Global Health, and two scientists who have developed COVID-19 vaccines – Professor Sarah Gilbert of Oxford University and Dr. Özlem Türeci of German company BioNTech, one of the vaccine pioneers – were guest speakers at the bi-weekly briefing by the World Health Organization (WHO) held on Monday, International Women’s Day.
History has a habit of erasing women’s contribution to science — from NASA’s ‘hidden figures’ and the women who propelled men into space to the many female researchers whose work won Nobel prizes for their male supervisors. We cannot give recognition to female scientists and their contributions to the fight against COVID-19 without acknowledging the barriers they have overcome.
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on political leadership around the world. Differences in how leaders address the pandemic through public messages have practical implications for building trust and an effective response within a country. Methods We analysed the speeches made by 20 heads of government around the world (Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Niger, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Scotland, Sint Maarten, United Kingdom, United States and Taiwan) to highlight the differences between men and women leaders in discussing COVID-19. We used an inductive analytical approach, coding speeches for specific themes based on language and content.
Dada, Sara & Ashworth, Henry & Bewa, Marlene & Dhatt, Roopa. (2021). Words matter: political and gender analysis of speeches made by heads of government during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Global Health. 6. e003910. 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003910.
We support Simon Wright and Refiloe Mabjeane,1 who wrote on behalf of the Civil Society Engagement Mechanism for UHC2030, calling for a “radically different approach” to the UN high-level meeting on universal health coverage (UHC) on Sept 23, 2019. However, a radically different approach means prioritising gender equality and girls and women’s health and rights in UHC, and this includes the health workforce.
Iversen K, Girard F, Dhatt R, van Daalen K, Keeling A, Pley C. Women’s rights will drive universal health coverage. Lancet. 2019 Sep 21;394(10203):1005. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31815-X. PMID: 31544740.
This week, the 65th U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) serves as an opportunity for the Biden-Harris administration to keep their promise on increasing diversity and addressing inequalities in leadership— particularly gender inequality—and so far they are succeeding.
There’s no better time for CSW65, and no better year than to address gender equality, with the pandemic disproportionately impacting women, while also revealing and exacerbating existing inequalities around the world.
On January 1, 2021, The Inter-Parliamentary Union ranked the U.S. in equal place with Mali at 67th place. But it’s not just the U.S.—only 23 countries have 40 percent women or more in leadership in national parliaments, with the top of the global league table being Rwanda, Cuba and United Arab Emirates. Among those ranked above the U.S., only 36 percent of high-income countries ranked higher.
While there is still a long way to go for women in global health to get the recognition, respect and relative conditions they deserve – at all levels and in all places – there are some notable breakthroughs. The world might be living the movie Contagion at present, but there is a serious flaw in the metaphor. The movie ends with a scientist using herself as a one sample test to show viability of a vaccine – while a male actor is making the policy and disbursement decisions. For some of us, identification of a potential vaccine is where it all begins. And as for distributing it, it isn’t one man calling the shots.
To get vaccines developed, financed, regulated, manufactured, allocated, contracted, purchased and delivered – while hastily retrofitting a network of supply chain webbing around the world – is a phenomenal undertaking. It may be the biggest logistical effort to get a commodity made, scaled-up and distributed to every country, the world has ever seen.
And guess what? Much of this global health security effort is being run by women. The global initiative for this is COVAX, and for the design, development and initial operational phase, the forces to be reckoned with and women in charge, were the Chair of the Gavi Alliance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness, Jane Halton. Dr Okonjo-Iweala has moved on to head up the World Trade Organization now, but you can bet she will continue a keen interest in vaccine equity.
While there is still a long way to go for women in global health to get the recognition, respect and relative conditions they deserve – at all levels and in all places – there are some notable breakthroughs.
International Women’s Day is always an opportunity to celebrate the contribution of women to our social, political, and economic wellbeing and development. With the world changing so profoundly in the past year during the covid-19 pandemic, it feels even more apt to stop and reflect on not just the achievements of all women, but the extraordinary contribution women have made as 70% of the health and social care workforce.
The theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a covid-19 world.” At the moment, however, achieving an equal future in the healthcare sector is a distant dream, whether now or in a post covid-19 world. Women may deliver the majority of healthcare but, in general, they do not lead the health systems they know best. Women hold only 25% of senior leadership posts in healthcare, while making up 90% of nurses—many of whom have borne the brunt of long hours, mental trauma, and risk of infection in this pandemic, all while coping with surges of desperately ill patients.
Originally posted in the BMJ Opinion.
By Roopa Dhatt, Executive Eirector, Women in Global Health
Universal health coverage can be a global game changer for economics, equality and inclusion, but only when gender equality and women’s rights are prioritised
By Françoise Girard, president of the International Women’s Health Coalition Katja Iversen, president and CEO of Women Deliver Roopa Dhatt, executive director and co-founder of Women in Global Health, and Kim van Daalen, Women in Global Health
We must accelerate vaccine equity now for all health workers, especially for the women who comprise 70% of the health and care workforce.
The COVID-19 virus has infected over 100 million people, with nearly 2.5 million confirmed deaths in over 223 countries, areas and territories. To overcome the pandemic, the approach must remain holistic and people-centered with prevention, testing, vaccination, and treatment.
With the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines, there is renewed hope for some, while many fear that history will repeat itself and that health inequities will prevail and will be overlooked. So far, the picture looks grim, more than 130 million doses of vaccine have now been distributed globally, yet two-thirds of the world (130 countries) have not yet received a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Just ten countries have administered 75% of all COVID-19 vaccinations.
Originally posted in Medium.com
By: Roopa Dhatt — Executive Director, Women in Global Health
This interview in the Philanthropy Women features Sarah Hillware, the Deputy Director of Women in Global Health (WGH), a 35,000+ strong women-led organization working to challenge power and privilege for gender equity in health.
1. What do you wish you had known when you started out in your profession?
Personally, I wish I’d known that it was OK and, in fact, healthy, to take detours on my career journey. My path was not a straight and narrow one, but one which took me in directions that, at the time, I did not fully understand. For instance, I took a certification course in advertising sales and subsequently worked at a marketing and advertising firm for a year. That industry was not ultimately where I saw myself long- term, but the skills and knowledge I gained were invaluable, and ultimately helped me land my position at the World Bank.
History has a habit of erasing women’s contribution to science — from NASA’s ‘hidden figures’ and the women who propelled men into space to the many female researchers whose work won Nobel prizes for their male supervisors. We cannot give recognition to female scientists and their contributions to the fight against COVID-19 without acknowledging the barriers they have overcome.
This year, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science will focus on female scientists at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19.
Barriers and challenges for women in science existed long before the pandemic but are now in the spotlight due to increasing social and professional inequities — especially in academia, vaccine research and development, and COVID-19 response decision-making.
The intense repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to massive ripple effects felt around the world, particularly in marginalized communities and for the women and girls within them. Within this crisis, however, there are also opportunities for improving the status of women leaders and healthcare workers, and advancing toward universal healthcare as a basic human right.
However, the prevailing narrative around the pandemic tends to paint women and girls as “victims” of the pandemic, or victims of issues and events that impact access to healthcare. This may not be the best way to frame the issue, asserts Sarah Hillware of Women’s Global Health. Relegating women and girls to the role of “victim” can be a major barrier in the path to universal healthcare.
“Globally, women’s rights and gender equality are still seen as technical, siloed issues,” says Hillware. “This was magnified during COVID-19, when we’ve been hearing from governments that ‘now is not the time to focus on gender equality.’”
Hillware asserts that this is a huge strategic mistake. “Unless gender equality is viewed as a foundational pillar of any health system, we will continue to miss the mark. At a time when women have been (and continue to be) disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, we must change the narrative and view women as leaders and part of the solution, not as victims or beneficiaries.”
Gender equality is fundamental to progress towards UHC, and the COVID-19 pandemic is reinforcing the importance of gender-balanced leadership. This blog from the Global Health Workforce Network’s Gender Equity Hub describes evidence and actions that are needed to ensure that in the International Year of Health and Care Workers progress on gender equity in the health and care workforce is made.
With 70% of the global health and social care workforce being women, it is shocking that 75% of leadership positions are held by men.
Urgent action is needed in the health and social care sectors to address gender inequities and strengthen the health workforce to reach universal health coverage (UHC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Notably, SDG 5, achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, calls for women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership, including in health systems.
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPPR), the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (IOAC) and the Review Committee of International Health Regulations (IHR) are important opportunities to consider the World Health Organization (WHO) and states’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic from a gender perspective. National governments are responsible for developing and implementing laws and policies to respond to crises, and mitigating outbreak impacts on different sectors of society. WHO is responsible for global priority-setting and coordination, information dissemination and knowledge sharing. IHR must mainstream gender in planned actions and obligations. This brief by Women in Global Health and the Gender and COVID-19 Project provides advice for gender mainstreaming as states and WHO i) prepare for an outbreak, ii) engage in decision making and advice during the crisis and iii) respond to epidemics and potential pandemics.
Gender and COVID-19 Project and Women in Global Health. Sumegha Asthana, Sara E Davies, Roopa Dhatt, Ann Keeling, Arush Lal, Alexandra Phelan, Maike Voss and Clare Wenham (October 2020) Strengthen gender mainstreaming in WHO´s pandemic preparedness and response, Policy Brief.
This week’s Thought Leadership piece comes from Women in Global Health (WGH) Nigeria, an organisation that was established to bring visibility and recognition of Nigerian women, shape global health programming and advocacy, and reform policy and in communities in Nigeria and the diaspora. They analyse the reasons why more women are not seen in leadership positions in Nigeria’s health sector, and proffer solutions for what the country must do to change this narrative.
The Irish Global Health Network and Esther Alliance hosted a series of webinars on the Covid-19 Pandemic. The 7th Webinar Was Co-Hosted By Women In Global Health Ireland. Get all the event details and key messages.
Women in Global Health (WGH), an international NGO working towards gender equity in the field of global health, has crowdsourced a list of over 100 female health security experts.
Honoring women health pioneers is integral to WGH. Heroines of health hold a variety of positions including department heads, nurses, community health workers (CHW), researchers, physicians, policymakers, representatives of INGOs, midwives, educators, human rights activists, and volunteers.
A growing chorus of voices are questioning the glaring lack of women in COVID-19 decision- making bodies. Men dominating leadership positions in global health has long been the default mode of governing. This is a symptom of a broken system where gover-nance is not inclusive of any type of diversity, be it gender, geography, sexual orientation, race, socio- economic status or disciplines within and beyond health – excluding those who offer unique perspectives, expertise and lived realities. This not only reinforces ineq-uitable power structures but undermines an effective COVID-19 response – ultimately costing lives.
van Daalen, Kim & Bajnoczki, Csongor & Chowdhury, Maisoon & Dada, Sara & Khorsand, Parnian & Socha, Anna & Lal, Arush & Jung, Laura & Alqodmani, Lujain & Torres, Irene & Ouedraogo, Samiratou & Mahmud, Amina & Dhatt, Roopa & Phelan, Alexandra & Rajan, Dheepa. (2020). Symptoms of a broken system: the gender gaps in COVID-19 decision-making. BMJ Global Health. 5. 3549. 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003549.
The journey to realizing women’s and girls’ rights has been a long one. We marked the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration in 2020, committed to the 2000 Millennium Development Goals, and renewed commitment in 2015 with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development should be used as an advocacy tool to initiate action and hold Member States of the United Nations accountable (1 –3). At 5 years into the 2030 agenda, it is clear that many countries are not on track to meet some of the SDGs and targets. There is also fear the COVID-19 pandemic will result in setbacks and complacency from governments to commitments previously made. In order to realize women’s and girls’ rights, concerted action on gender equality throughout the SDGs is needed.
Morgan, Rosemary & Dhatt, Roopa & Kharel, Chandani & Muraya, Kui. (2020). A patchwork approach to gender equality weakens the SDGs: time for cross-cutting action. Global health promotion. 27. 3-5. 10.1177/1757975920949735.
Science and innovation benefit from diversity. However, as the global community fights COVID-19, the productivity and scientific output of female academics are disproportionately affected, leading to loss of women’s scientific expertise from the public realm.
Gabster, Brooke & van Daalen, Kim & Dhatt, Roopa & Barry, Michele. (2020). Challenges for the female academic during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lancet. 395. 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31412-4.
Epidemics function as a gendered vulnera-bility, and yet gender remains an afterthought in health security and pandemic response, including to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).1 Emerging data indicate that COVID-19 mortality is greater among men, but past experiences suggest that the socio-economic impact of epidemics tends to be far greater for women. As a result, it is essen-tial to assess the intersectional and gendered vulnerabilities in health emergencies. In addition, given the gender- skewed landscape of power and decision- making in global health, it is also critical to outline women’s leadership and role in such contexts.
Bali, Sulzhan & Dhatt, Roopa & Lal, Arush & Mahmud, Amina & van Daalen, Kim & Sridhar, Devi. (2020). Off the back burner: Diverse and gender-inclusive decision-making for COVID-19 response and recovery. BMJ Global Health. 5. e002595. 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002595.
All genders differ in their needs, perception, attitudes, and vulnerability to the effects of climate change.1 This difference is notably true for how climate change affects health.2 Although some governmental and non-governmental organisations have begun to address the inequity of gender-based climate change effects, global efforts are falling short by failing to recognise the impact that gender has on health.
van Daalen, Kim & Jung, Laura & Dhatt, Roopa & Phelan, Alexandra. (2020). Climate change and gender-based health disparities. The Lancet Planetary Health. 4. e44-e45. 10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30001-2.
Women in Global Health recognise the landmark ICPD adopted by 179 countries in Cairo Egypt 25 years ago in 1994. We recognise the impact of the Programme for the rights of women and girls, gender equality and therefore for sustainable development and all of humanity.
At today’s webinar hosted by the National Women’s Council of Ireland, Women in Global Health Deputy Director Sarah Hillware offered the following remarks.
We are experiencing and witnessing challenging times. As we write this, the world is processing the tragic events that have taken place in the US: unjust killings of African-Americans, including Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd have spurred demonstrations and demands for justice.
Dr. Roopa Dhatt, Executive Director of Women in Global Health offers the following address at the UN Women and OECD’s Women Leaders Virtual Roundtable on COVID-19 and the Future
Without a doubt, women led the way in 2017. We raised our voices and joined together to advocate for human rights and dignity for every person. From the “Silence Breakers” to protestors in pink hats, women reclaimed our common humanity with bravery and courage. By Roopa Dhatt, Ann Keeling, Nicole Schiegg, Kelly Thompson.
Opinion: A call to action on gender equality in global health
By Roopa Dhatt, Ann Keeling, Nicole Schiegg, Kelly Thompson // 26 January 2018
It was year marked by some wins for gender equality in global health, from senior appointments at WHO to the launch of several initiatives. But as Roopa Dhatt, co-founder and executive director of Women in Global Health suggests, old habits die hard. A number of photos circulated this year on social media showing mostly all-male panels at global health conferences and meetings. Calls for change have grown louder. The infamous photo of WHO’s Tedros in a meeting with World Bank President Jim Yong with mostly males at the discussion table sparked a huge outcry on social media early this year, prompting the WHO chief to admit they “need to do better.”
Biggest global health moments of 2017
By Jenny Lei Ravelo // 21 December 2017
Just before the year ended, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced another set of officials to join his leadership team; nearly all of them women. The list of eight new appointees — which was not made available to the media but was seen by Devex earlier this week — include directors for some of the agency’s biggest and newest programs… Women in Global Health Executive Director and Co-Founder Roopa Dhatt said she is “thrilled” to see the WHO aid chief’s continued commitment to gender equality in WHO’s leadership, and she hopes the wider global health community and its leaders follow suit.
With new WHO director appointments, women outnumber men in senior leadership
By Jenny Lei Ravelo // 21 December 2017
Women have been making sizable contributions to global health for decades. We have influenced advocacy, policy, technical and programmatic issues. However, as a global health community, we still battle conundrums like “all male panels” and not seeing enough women in the top leadership positions. In that respect, today was a game changer. Dr Tedros announced his senior leadership team at the World Health Organization (WHO). Not only do leaders represent 14 countries, including all WHO regions, 60% of the appointments are women. This is a monumental moment for gender equality in global health leadership.
HuffPost: A Leap Forward for Gender Equality in Global Health, October 02, 2017
By Nicole Schiegg, Contributor, stratcomms consultant; fmr USAID sr advisor
The Fearless Girl statue that faces down Wall Street’s charging bull grabbed international headlines and triggered a debate about the glass ceiling that continues to obstruct women from reaching the higher echelons of the financial sector. Overlooked in the debate is that this disparity is not confined to the financial sector; even sectors that are predominantly female still have a shocking gender gap in senior roles. As we invest in the next generation of young leaders, it is important to look at the current generation of leaders to identify and address the barriers that keep senior positions decidedly male.leaders
The Lancet Correspondance: Global health: generation men
August 18, 2017
By Nina Schwalbe
Receiving an award is an accolade. Awards validate and bring visibility, help attract funding, hasten career advancement, and can consolidate career accomplishments. Yet, in the fields of public health and medicine, few women receive them. Between seven public health and medicine awards from diverse countries, the chances of a woman receiving a prize was nine out of 100 since their inception.
Recognition matters: only one in ten awards given to women
Rosemary Morgan
Roopa Dhatt
Kelly Muraya
Kent Buse
Asha S George
Published:June 24, 2017 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31592-1
Despite women making up the vast majority of those working in the field of global health, there is a persistent lack of female representation in the highest management and leadership positions. Our recent article explores the current situation in Cambodia, Kenya and Zimbabwe, to gain a better understanding of the barriers and successes women face in obtaining leadership roles.
This blog post was written by Dr. Kelly Thompson (kelly.thompson@womeningh.org), Dr. Roopa Dhatt (roopa.dhatt@womeningh.org) and Mehr Manzoor (research@womeningh.org).
Gender equity is imperative to the attainment of healthy lives and wellbeing of all, and promoting gender equity in leadership in the health sector is an important part of this endeavour. This empirical research examines gender and leadership in the health sector, pooling learning from three complementary data sources: literature review, quantitative analysis of gender and leadership positions in global health organisations and qualitative life histories with health workers in Cambodia, Kenya and Zimbabwe. The findings highlight gender biases in leadership in global health, with women underrepresented. Gender roles, relations, norms and expectations shape progression and leadership at multiple levels. Increasing women’s leadership within global health is an opportunity to further health system resilience and system responsiveness. We conclude with an agenda and tangible next steps of action for promoting women’s leadership in health as a means to promote the global goals of achieving gender equity.
Dhatt, R., Theobald, S., Buzuzi, S., Ros, B., Vong, S., Muraya, K., . . . Jackson, C. (2017). The role of women’s leadership and gender equity in leadership and health system strengthening. Global Health, Epidemiology and Genomics, 2, E8. doi:10.1017/gheg.2016.22
To the Members of the WHO Executive Board and Governing Bodies, as members of the global health community, we are writing to highlight the current leadership gap in global health and to call upon the WHO and its Member States to take decisive steps to achieve gender parity.
Act now: a call to action for gender equality in global health
Roopa Dhatt
Ilona Kickbusch
Kelly Thompson
on behalf of theWomen’s Leadership in Global Health Strategy Roundtables, hosted by Women in Global Health and the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Published:January 23, 2017 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30143-5
