Gender Equal Health and Care Workforce Initiative 2023 Report
The Gender Equal Health and Care Workforce Initiative (GEHCWI), led by the Government of France and Women in Global Health (WGH), is aimed at increasing visibility, dialogue, and commitment to action on gender equity in the health and care workforce. The Initiative convenes the international community to implement existing global commitments and to agree on practical steps to achieve gender equity in the health and care workforce.
In the third year of a global pandemic, gender inequality in the health and care workforce continues to be a pressing issue. Reports of violence and abuse against women health and care workers, unsafe working conditions, and a lack of women in senior decision-making roles in health, continue to impact negatively on individual health workers and undermine health systems globally. A new and worrying trend is gathering pace, as reports of women health and care workers resigning their jobs in high-income countries continue to surface. Some estimates from the United Kingdom place the number of health and care workers planning to leave at 1 in 5. This “Great Resignation of health and care workers” adds to the WHO’s reported health worker shortage of 15 million globally. Additionally, this Great Resignation is beginning to catalyze what could become a “Great Migration” of health and care workers from low- and middle-income countries to high-income countries. Since women are the majority of health workers and 90% of nurses, both the Great Resignation and any future Great Migration involve women particularly. The pandemic deepened gender inequities that disadvantaged women in the health workforce well before Covid-19. The migration of trained health workers from low-income countries with the most serious health worker shortages threatens to destabilize already weakened health systems in the countries they leave behind.
The challenges posed by the pandemic make the GEHCWI commitment to gender equity in the health workforce more relevant than ever. After nearly 2 years of unwavering support, the GEHCWI says goodbye to Ambassador Stéphanie Seydoux of France as she steps into the role of World Health Organization’s Envoy for Multilateral Affairs. For France, GEHCWI is now under the new leadership of Ambassador Anne-Claire Amprou, also acting as France’s lead negotiator for the Pandemic Instrument. Additionally, France has announced a commitment of €120 million over five years towards the WHO Academy, enabling the construction of its headquarters, recruitment of a team, and the creation of content. Furthermore, a new €50 million in support for the Health Systems & Response Connector was announced in February 2022. This funding will support the goals of the GEHCWI and contribute to the achivement of gender equity in the health and care workforce.
In 2022, the GEHCWI hosted 6 events with the participation of Ministers, government officials, representatives from multilateral organizations and NGOs, and health workers from around the world. These speakers discussed the importance of safe and decent working conditions for women health and care workers, the need to pay women health and care workers fairly, the importance of women’s leadership in building back better from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need to work multilaterally to prevent the Great Resignation and subsequent Great Migration of women health and care workers.
The GEHCWI also saw significant engagement and participation from various stakeholders in the health and care sector. Metrics for the initiative include 12.5 million Twitter impressions, 995 Twitter posts, 635 participants in the conversation and six featured media pieces. Additionally, the initiative received 13 new commitments in 2022, bringing the total number of governments and organizations joining the Initiative to 47: 16 governments, 8 multilateral organizations, and 23 NGOs.
Last year, the Initiative made significant progress in raising awareness and galvanizing action towards gender equity in the health and care workforce. In 2023, the GEHCWI remains committed to its goal, and with the support of governments, multilateral organizations, and NGOs, the Initiative is well-positioned to continue making progress towards the critical goal of a gender-equal health and care workforce.
