(Press-News.org) Women health sector leaders are good for a nation’s wealth, health, innovation, and ethics, among other things, finds a review of the available evidence, published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health.
Yet despite their unique and positive impact, they are a major underused resource, particularly in low and middle income countries, say the researchers, who call for more and sustained investment to maximise women’s potential and reap the benefits of their contribution.
Despite making up 70% of the healthcare workforce, as a whole, and 90% of the nursing and midwifery workforce, they hold just 25% of leadership roles, point out the researchers.
While good evidence is beginning to emerge that women leaders make a positive difference to maternal and healthcare policies, and to the reduction of health inequalities, it’s not yet clear what their impact might be on global health, they add.
To find out, the researchers carried out a scoping review of peer reviewed research to map evidence on the impact of women’s leadership in organisations in low and middle income countries, focusing in particular on global health.
In all,137 relevant articles met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. A study was tagged positive if it reported an improvement, increase, or benefit of the assessed outcome as a result of women’s leadership. It was tagged negative if it reported a decrease, weakening, or worsening of the assessed outcome. Null results didn’t report any change.
Most of the included studies reported a positive impact of women’s leadership: 119 (97%) were positive and statistically significant; 12 (9%) were positive and statistically insignificant.
Some 35 (26%) studies reported negative and statistically significant results for particular outcomes while 13 (9%) reported negative and statistically insignificant results. And 33 (24%) reported null results. Around reported some combination of positive, negative, or null results.
The review identified women leaders’ positive influence on six areas of impact. These were: financial performance, risk, and stability; innovation; engagement with ethical and sustainability initiatives; health outcomes; organisational culture and climate, including reputation, employee retention, and team cohesion and communication; and influence on other women’s careers and aspirations.
Even those studies reporting mixed findings still largely pointed to positive results, particularly when modified by other factors, such as better education, greater levels of experience, and opportunities to work with other women across an organisation.
“What is less clear is why women leaders have this impact, particularly in the face of overt and covert biases, discrimination, harassment, patriarchal norms, etc,” note the researchers.
The answer, they suggest, may lie in women’s more effective transformational leadership behaviours and their tendency to use more democratic and participative styles.
“In all sectors, across leadership roles, and across geographies, women’s leadership can produce positive results. Women leaders’ success, however, cannot be separated from the contexts in which they work, and unsupportive environments can affect the extent to which women leaders can have an impact,” write the researchers.
And they conclude: “Increased and sustained investment in women’s leadership within the health sector can lead to improved outcomes for organisations and their clients.
“Such investments must not only target individual women, but also seek to foster organisational cultures that promote and retain women leaders and support their independent decision making.”
A linked editorial by Dr Jocalyn Clark, The BMJ’s international editor, argues that men’s monopoly on global health leadership is at odds with the scientific evidence. And in the current context of the backlash against rights and equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts, it’s even more important to advocate for gender equality, she says.
“Change is the responsibility of everyone—not just women. But clearly more women appointed to leadership positions could drive transformative change in these biased systems,” she argues.
END
Women health sector leaders good for a nation’s wealth, health, innovation, ethics
But major underused resource despite their unique and positive impact, say researchers More and sustained investment needed to maximize their potential and reap benefits
2025-02-05
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
‘Good’ cholesterol may be linked to heightened glaucoma risk among over 55s
2025-02-05
‘Good’ (HDL) cholesterol, usually considered to be beneficial for health, may be linked to a heightened risk of the serious eye condition, glaucoma—at least among the over 55s— suggest the results of a large observational study, published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.
Paradoxically, ‘bad’ (LDL) cholesterol, usually regarded as harmful to health, may be associated with a lower risk of glaucoma, a condition that damages the optic nerve, potentially leading to irreversible sight ...
GLP-1 drug shows little benefit for people with Parkinson’s disease
2025-02-05
The GLP-1 drug, exenatide, has no positive impact on the movement, symptoms or brain imaging of people with Parkinson’s, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.
The world’s largest and longest trial of exenatide in people with Parkinson’s disease was funded by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR) with support for sub-studies from Cure Parkinson’s and Van Andel Institute.
For their research, published in The Lancet, the team designed a randomised controlled phase 3 trial to definitively determine whether exenatide use was associated with any benefit in people with Parkinson’s and ...
Generally, things really do seem better in morning, large study suggests
2025-02-05
Generally, things really do seem better in the morning, with clear differences in self-reported mental health and wellbeing across the day, suggest the findings of a large study published in the open access journal BMJ Mental Health.
People generally wake up feeling in the best frame of mind in the morning but in the worst around midnight, the findings indicate, with day of the week and season of the year also playing their part.
Mental health and wellbeing are dynamic in nature, and subject to change over both short and extended periods, note the researchers. But relatively few studies have looked at how these might change over the course of the day, and those studies that ...
Juicing may harm your health in just three days, new study finds
2025-02-04
“Most people think of juicing as a healthy cleanse, but this study offers a reality check”
CHICAGO --- Think your juice cleanse is making you healthier? A new Northwestern University study suggests it might be doing the opposite. The study, recently published in Nutrients, found that a vegetable and fruit juice-only diet — even for just three days — can trigger shifts in gut and oral bacteria linked to inflammation and cognitive decline.
How was the study conducted?
Northwestern scientists studied three groups of healthy adults. One group consumed only juice, another had juice with whole ...
Forest landowner motivation to control invasive species depends on land use, study shows
2025-02-04
URBANA, Ill. – Many U.S. forests are privately owned, particularly in the Eastern and North Central part of the country. This makes control of invasive plants and pests challenging because efforts must be coordinated across landowners. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explores how differences in ownership motivation affects willingness to control, and how economic incentives can be implemented most efficiently.
“Some own the land for recreational purposes, some own it because they want to produce timber, and some are a combination of both. If one landowner controls invasive species ...
Coal emissions cost India millions in crop damages
2025-02-04
In many parts of India, a single noxious pollutant from coal-fired power stations drags down annual wheat and rice yields by 10% or more, according to a new study by Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability researchers.
The two grains are critical for food security in India, the second most populous country in the world and home to a quarter of all undernourished people globally.
“We wanted to understand the impact of India’s coal electricity emissions on its agriculture because there might be ...
$10.8 million award funds USC-led clinical trial to improve hip fracture outcomes
2025-02-04
The University of Southern California has been approved for $10.8 million in research funding by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to compare approaches to treating older adults with a fracture of the hip. Led by principal investigator Joseph Patterson, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in fracture care at Keck Medicine of USC, the “FASTER-Hip” trial aims to determine whether patients with a certain type of hip fracture fare better with a hip replacement or a simpler surgery known as internal fixation.
The trial leadership team includes ...
University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center among most reputable academic medical centers
2025-02-04
CLEVELAND -- University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center is one of the most recognizable hospitals among doctors in the U.S. and around the world, according to an annual survey.
UH Cleveland Medical Center was ranked eighth in the U.S. and 16th globally in a survey of the strongest Academic Medical Center brands, according to Brand Finance, a London-based brand valuation consultancy.
“This ranking is a reflection of all we do at University Hospitals to provide compassionate care for patients, work to find the next generation of therapies and treatments, invest ...
Emilia Morosan on team awarded Kavli Foundation grant for quantum geometry-enabled superconductivity
2025-02-04
Rice University physicist Emilia Morosan is part of an international research collaboration that has been awarded multimillion-dollar funding from The Kavli Foundation to develop and test next-generation superconductors through artificial intelligence and quantum geometry. This global initiative, spearheaded by Päivi Törmä of Aalto University in Finland, seeks to push the boundaries of quantum materials science and superconductivity.
The project includes funding from the Klaus ...
Unlock sales growth: Implement “buy now, pay later” to increase customer spending
2025-02-04
Researchers from Imperial College Business School and University of Leeds published a Journal of Marketing study that examines the impact of BNPL installment payments on retail sales. The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing, is titled “Buy Now Pay Later: Impact of Installment Payments on Customer Purchases” and is authored by Stijn Maesen and Dionysius Ang.
Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) is an increasingly popular payment method, allowing customers to spread payment into interest-free installments over a few weeks or months. Worldwide ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Brain stimulation can boost math learning in people with weaker neural connections
Inhibiting enzyme could halt cell death in Parkinson’s disease, study finds
Neurotechnology reverses biological disadvantage in maths learning
UNDER EMBARGO: Neurotechnology reverses biological disadvantage in maths learning
Scientists target ‘molecular machine’ in the war against antimicrobial resistance
Extending classical CNOP method for deep-learning atmospheric and oceanic forecasting
Aston University research: Parents should encourage structure and independence around food to support children’s healthy eating
Thunderstorms are a major driver of tree death in tropical forests
Danforth Plant Science Center adds two new faculty members
Robotic eyes mimic human vision for superfast response to extreme lighting
Racial inequities and access to COVID-19 treatment
Residential segregation and lung cancer risk in African American adults
Scientists wipe out aggressive brain cancer tumors by targeting cellular ‘motors’
Capturability distinction analysis of continuous and pulsed guidance laws
CHEST expands Bridging Specialties Initiative to include NTM disease and bronchiectasis on World Bronchiectasis Day
Exposure to air pollution may cause heart damage
SwRI, UTSA selected by NASA to test electrolyzer technology aboard parabolic flight
Prebiotics might be a factor in preventing or treating issues caused by low brain GABA
Youngest in class at higher risk of mental health problems
American Heart Association announces new volunteer leaders for 2025-26
Gut microbiota analysis can help catch gestational diabetes
FAU’s Paulina DeVito awarded prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Champions for change – Paid time off initiative just made clinical trials participation easier
Fentanyl detection through packaging
Prof. Eran Meshorer elected to EMBO for pioneering work in epigenetics
New 3D glacier visualizations provide insights into a hotter Earth
Creativity across disciplines
Consequences of low Antarctic sea ice
Hear here: How loudness and acoustic cues help us judge where a speaker is facing
A unique method of rare-earth recycling can strengthen the raw material independence of Europe and America
[Press-News.org] Women health sector leaders good for a nation’s wealth, health, innovation, ethicsBut major underused resource despite their unique and positive impact, say researchers More and sustained investment needed to maximize their potential and reap benefits