Research

Women in Healthcare: Quick Take

Apr 24, 2020

GLOBAL

Women Represent Close to 70% of the Global Healthcare Workforce1

In 2017, almost half of all doctors in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries were women.2

Thirteen OECD countries exceeded gender parity for doctors in 2017, including Slovenia (63.0%), the Lithuania (69.4%), Estonia (74.0%), and Latvia (74.3%).3

  • France (44.5%), Germany (46.6%), the United Kingdom (47.6%), and Sweden (48.0%) were nearing gender parity among physicians.4
  • Women still only made up one in five (21.0%) doctors in Japan.5

Globally, women represent the majority of nurses and midwives.6

  • The Americas (86%), Europe (84%), and the Western Pacific (81%) are regions with the highest proportion of women among nurses.7
A Worldwide Shortage of About 18 Million Healthcare Workers Is Projected by 20308

The World Health Organization suggests this shortage, a consequence of anticipated demographic changes and economic growth, could be mitigated by gender equality initiatives.9

There is a 28.0% gender wage gap in healthcare around the globe.10

Women Face a Disproportionate Risk of Contracting Infectious Diseases11

Since women account for a large share of the world’s front line healthcare workers and perform most of the world’s unpaid labor in child, elder, and sick care, they may have an increased risk of catching infectious diseases, including COVID-19.12

  • In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control reports that, as of April 2020, 73% of healthcare professionals who tested positive for COVID-19 were women.13
  • Exposure to infectious diseases poses a high psychological burden for women healthcare workers. A study of healthcare settings in China during the COVID-19 outbreak found that women workers reported elevated levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.14

CANADA

Women Dominate the Health Fields in Canadian Higher Education

In 2017, women made up more than three quarters (78.7%) of post-secondary graduates in health and related fields.15

  • Women’s share of medical degrees has increased dramatically in the past four decades. In 2018, women earned more than half (54.5%) of MD degrees in Canada—an increase from only 12% in 1970.16
Nursing Roles in Canada Are Dominated by Women

In 2018, women accounted for a majority of regulated nurses and a minority of physicians:

  • Regulated nurses: 90.5%17
  • Total physicians: 42.1%18
    • Family medicine: 46.6%
    • Specialists: 37.5%

Women are expected to make large gains in healthcare employment by 2030, with one estimate showing a 33% growth rate.19

EUROPE

In Europe the Gender Gap in Healthcare Varies by Country

In the European Union (EU-28), women are nearly at parity among physicians (49.5%).20

  • However, this figure masks gender gaps in individual countries. Latvia (74.3%) and Estonia (74.0%) have the highest number of women physicians, while Luxembourg (35.7%) and Cyprus (37.8%) had the lowest number.21

In EU healthcare overall, the percentage of employees who are women stands at 75.7%.22

  • Latvia (88.6%) and Estonia (87.8%) have the highest percentage of women while Greece (65.2%) and Italy (64.8%) have the lowest.23

UNITED STATES

Women Hold More Than Three-Quarters of Healthcare Jobs24

Women, and especially women of color, are more likely to be in caregiving roles than diagnosing roles.

Women as a percentage of total employees by role and race/ethnicity25
All WomenWhite WomenBlack WomenAsian WomenLatinas
Physicians/Surgeons40.8%27.0%4.6%8.3%3.2%
Registered Nurses89.0%68.0%11.3%7.4%6.2%
Nurse Practitioners88.0%67.6%11.1%8.4%2.2%
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses90.8%62.3%23.9%2.5%12.1%
Healthcare Support Occupations86.9%56.1%23.1%4.1%16.7%
Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics33.5%29.1%3.4%0.0%*3.9%

*No data.

More Women Than Men Are Entering Medical School26

Women are almost at parity in the early stages of their medical careers, accounting for a little more than half of medical school applicants (52.2%), matriculants (52.4%), and enrolled students (50.5%) in 2019.27

  • Women also made up nearly half (47.9%) of medical school graduates in 2018-2019.28

Men outnumber women in academic medicine. Just over two-fifths (42.3%) of medical school faculty were women in 2019.29

Women face high rates of sexual discrimination and harassment from faculty and staff in medical school. Medical students who are women reported high rates of sexism (45%) and crude behavior (18%) compared with their male counterparts (21% and 10% respectively).30

Although Women Dominate the Industry Overall, Few Women Advance to Leadership Positions

Women lead just 19% of hospitals.31

When it comes to companies in the healthcare industry, women only hold 13% of CEO roles and 33% of senior leadership positions.32

Women in Healthcare Are Paid Less, On Average, Than Their Male Counterparts

Women physicians and surgeons made $0.67 to every $1 earned by their male counterparts in 2018.33

Women in healthcare support occupations, which include home health aides and nursing assistants, made $0.83 for every $1 their male counterparts made in 2018.34

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Catalyst, Quick Take: Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) (June 2019).

Gretchen Berlin, Lucia Darino, Megan Greenfield, and Irina Starikova, “Women in the Healthcare Industry,” (McKinsey & Company, 2019).

Jennifer Cheeseman Day and Cheridan Christnacht, “Your Healthcare is in Women’s Hands,” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019).

Courtney Connley, “How Women Could be Uniquely Impacted by the Coronavirus,” CNBC, March 18, 2020.

Emma Hinchliffe, “Women Are on the Front Lines of the Coronavirus Crisis,” Fortune, March 23, 2020.

Jane van Dis, Laura Stadum, and Esther Choo, “Sexual Harassment is Rampant in Healthcare. Here’s How to Stop It.” Harvard Business Review, November 1, 2018.

United Nations, Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on Women (April 9, 2020).

 

How to cite this product: Catalyst, Quick Take: Women in Healthcare (April 24, 2020).

  1. Mathieu Boniol, Michelle McIsaac, Lihui Xu, Tana Wuliji, Khassoum Diallo, and Jim Campbell, Gender Equity in the Health Workforce: Analysis of 104 Countries (World Health Organization, 2019).
  2. OECD, Health at a Glance 2019 (2019): p. 174
  3. OECD, Health at a Glance 2019 (2019): p. 175.
  4. OECD, Health at a Glance 2019 (2019): p. 175.
  5. OECD, Health at a Glance 2019 (2019): p. 175.
  6. Mathieu Boniol, Michelle McIsaac, Lihui Xu, Tana Wuliji, Khassoum Diallo, and Jim Campbell, Gender Equity in the Health Workforce: Analysis of 104 Countries (World Health Organization, 2019).
  7. Mathieu Boniol, Michelle McIsaac, Lihui Xu, Tana Wuliji, Khassoum Diallo, and Jim Campbell, Gender Equity in the Health Workforce: Analysis of 104 Countries (World Health Organization, 2019).
  8. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, “Data and statistics.”
  9. World Health Organization, Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 (2016): p. 24.
  10. Mathieu Boniol, Michelle McIsaac, Lihui Xu, Tana Wuliji, Khassoum Diallo, Jim Campbell, Gender Equity in the Health Workforce: Analysis of 104 Countries (World Health Organization, 2019).
  11. Alisha Haridasani Gupta, “Why Women May Face a Greater Risk of Catching Coronavirus,” The New York Times, March 12, 2020.
  12. Alisha Haridasani Gupta, “Why Women May Face a Greater Risk of Catching Coronavirus,” The New York Times, March 12, 2020; Laura Addati, Umberto Cattaneo, Valeria Esquivel, and Isabel Valarino, Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work (International Labour Organization, 2018): p. 47.
  13. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Characteristics of Health Care Personnel with COVID-19 – United States, February 12-April 9, 2020,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) (April 17, 2020).
  14. Jianbo Lai, Simeng Ma, and Ying Wang, “Factors Associated with Mental Health Outcomes Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019,” JAMA Network Open, vol. 3, no. 3 (March 2020).
  15. Statistics Canada, “Table 37-10-0012-01 (formerly CANSIM 477-0030): Postsecondary graduates, by field of study, program type, credential type, and gender,” (2020).
  16. The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada, Canadian Medical Education Statistics 2018 (2019): p. 166.
  17. Regulated nurses in Canada comprise Registered Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, Licensed Practical Nurses, and Registered Psychiatric Nurses. For more on the definition see, Canada Institute for Health Information, Nursing in Canada, 2018: A Lens on Supply and Workforce (2019): p. 6; Canadian Nurses Association, “Nursing Statistics.”
  18. Canada Institute for Health Information Physicians in Canada, 2018 (2019).
  19. Sandrine Devillard, Geneviève Bonin, and Anu Madgavkar, The Present and Future of Women at Work in Canada (McKinsey & Company, 2019): p. 38
  20. Eurostat, “Figure 4: Physicians, by Sex, 2017,” Healthcare Personnel Statistics – Physicians (2019).
  21. Eurostat, “Figure 4: Physicians, by Sex, 2017,” Healthcare Personnel Statistics – Physicians (2019).
  22. These calculations are based on the category of “human health activities” as defined by the EU here,  Eurostat, “NACE Rev. 2 – Statistical Classification of Economic Activities” (2008); Eurostat, “Employment by Sex, Age and Detailed Economic Activity (from 2008 Onwards, NACE Rev. 2 Two Digit Level) – 1 000.”
  23. Eurostat, “Employment by Sex, Age and Detailed Economic Activity (from 2008 Onwards, NACE Rev. 2 Two Digit Level) – 1 000.”
  24. Jennifer Cheeseman Day and Cheridan Christnacht, “Your Health Care is in Women’s Hands,” US Census Bureau, August 14, 2019.
  25. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Table 1: Employed and Experienced Unemployed Persons by Detailed Occupation, Sex, Race, and Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity, Annual Average 2019,” Current Population Survey (unpublished data) (2020).
  26. Association of American Medical Colleges, ”U.S. Medical School Matriculants by Sex, 2009-2019,” 2019 Fall Applicant, Matriculant, and Enrollment Data Tables (2019).
  27. Association of American Medical Colleges, ”U.S. Medical School Matriculants by Sex, 2009-2019,” 2019 Fall Applicant, Matriculant, and Enrollment Data Tables (2019).
  28. Association of American Medical Colleges, “Table B-2.2: Total Graduates by U.S. Medical School, Sex, and Year, 2014-2015 through 2018-2019,” 2019 Facts: Enrollment, Graduates, and MD-PhD Data (2019).
  29. Association of American Medical Colleges, “Table 8: U.S. Medical School Faculty by Sex and Race/Ethnicity, 2019,” 2019 U.S. Medical School Faculty (2020).
  30. “Sexual Harassment in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine,” in Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, ed. Paula A. Johnson, Sheila E. Widnall, and Frazier F. Benya (Washington, DC: The National Academic Press, 2018): p. 60.
  31. Katie Bell and Patricia Melford, Women CEOs: The Path Forward for Healthcare (Korn Ferry, 2018).
  32. Terry Stone, Becky Miller, Elizabeth Southerlan, and Alex Raun, Women in Healthcare Leadership 2019 (Oliver Wyman, 2019): p. 3.
  33. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Table 18: Median Usual Weekly Earnings of Full-Time Wage and Salary Workers, By Detailed Occupation and Gender, 2018 Annual Averages (Numbers in Thousands),” Women in the Labor Force: A Databook (December 2019).
  34. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2018: 31-0000 Healthcare Support Occupations (Major Group),” Occupational Employment Statistics (2019); Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Table 18: Median Usual Weekly Earnings of Full-Time Wage and Salary Workers, By Detailed Occupation and Gender, 2018 Annual Averages (Numbers in Thousands),” Women in the Labor Force: A Databook (December 2019).