Globally, women represent 70 percent of the 43 million workers in the healthcare industry, but they hold less than 30 percent of management roles.

The Women's Leadership in Private Healthcare Global Working Group, created by the IFC Women's Employment Program, aims to strengthen women's leadership roles in the healthcare sector. The working group, active since September 2020, brings together CEOs and Human Resources managers from 17 leading healthcare organizations in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia to identify and address gender barriers in their field.

As part of this one-year initiative, IFC has coordinated periodical knowledge-sharing webinars on gender inclusion topics and peer-to-peer sessions on integrating Gender-Smart Business Solutions for health care companies. In addition, all members committed to implementing at least two strategies for advancing gender equity in their organization. The commitments range from prioritizing increased female representation in management to creating mentoring programs and offering flexible working hours to employees.

The working group is implemented in partnership with the Government of Norway and under the umbrella of the IFC Global Health Platform (GHP), which promotes private sector solutions in developing countries to respond to the challenges of COVID-19.

We invite you to engage in this conversation and broaden your knowledge with a series of resources, panel discussions, and materials that will guide your efforts to bring a gender lens into the future of the health care workforce.