Women in Leadership: Above and Beyond

By Prachi V. Atre, Formulation Scientist II,  Nexus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Neha Katti, M.S., M.B.A.

The idea of leadership begins with the fundamental understanding that leaders are critical for successful functioning of any given organization. Leadership can be defined as the act of achieving the goals by directing and motivating the team. A leader is a visionary steward guiding and motivating the team to increase productivity and accomplish the goals. And speaking of leaders, there has been a remarkable rise in women leaders over past decades. Women today are striding shoulder-to-shoulder with men in all domains: politics, STEM, management, sports, to name a few. There are political leaders like Angela Merkel creating a radical change whereas there are business leaders like Indra Nooyi and Sheryl Sandberg. They have proven time and again that they are equally capable of not only leading an organization but also a country. Today, a higher number of women pursue their undergraduate and graduate studies and have been pushing the goalpost.¹

The origin of Women’s History Month (March 1 to March 31) can be traced back to 1981 and is still celebrated nationwide to remind us of the accomplishments of women. Contributions of women to the fields of science and politics are remarkable. Marie Curie is often recalled for her discovery of radium and polonium, and her enormous contribution to uncovering cancer treatments. The election of Kamala Harris as the 49th Vice President of the United States is a modern day example of a political achievement for women. This brief review further elaborates on leadership roles of women, particularly in healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

Women constitute a formidable fraction of the healthcare workforce yet women in top leadership positions are still underrepresented irrespective of their compassion, transparency and collaborative attitudes. Women in leadership positions are now viewed as a positive signal towards change and women physicians’ job competences are not questioned any more.²

Global healthcare labor force contains 75% women, however only 38% hold leadership positions. In the healthcare division, only 18% of women leaders are hospital CEOs while 14% of members of boards of directors. On the other hand, only around 15% have set foot on executive positions in the clinical sector.  The key barriers responsible for gender equality comprise of the burden of domestic, clinical and leadership roles leading to increased burnout rates, poor career management, unbalanced career opportunities, and gender-related pay gap.³

The pharmaceutical sector has been described as dynamic and growing. Over the past couple of decades women have climbed up the ladder to become leaders and bring vision for the growth of pharmaceutical companies. However, the pharmaceutical industry is struggling to be women influenced in top executive positions. According to a research of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies, 34 of the 116 people on the board of directors are women and 34 of the 133 people who make up executive teams are women. That accounts for 30% female driven leadership overall. 

Women must be welcomed into top leadership positions, not only in healthcare and pharmaceutical fields, but also in politics, business, and academia. Women can empower other women and create a woman-empowered workforce to achieve goals. Due to the pre-existing gender bias, women find it harder to climb up the ladder of hierarchy. They need to be more confident and make their presence felt in a meeting room. They also need to start acknowledging their accomplishments.

References

1. 10 reasons why the world needs more women in leadership roles

2  Lega, Prenestini et al. 2017

3. Peters, Den Dulk et al. 2010