19
Women in Healthcare
Why do We Need Our Own
Solutions?
The State of Healthcare in our country affects every single South
African –so why do our women deserve special consideration?
Specific
healthcare solutions for women
are particularly relevant for South Africa given our history of
discrimination, the structural inequalities in our society and the current spread of the disease burden. Our
women disproportionately bear higher levels of infectious diseases such as
HIV/AIDS
and are the victims
of an unacceptably high number of
violent attacks.
They are increasingly becoming prone to the onslaught of
lifestyle diseases
, due to high levels of obesity,
lack of physical exercise and diets which are nutritionally poor but calorically rich.
It has also been found, in general, that
social investments in women
make the biggest impact in terms of
education and health for the entire family, particularly the
children
. Many donor-funded programs, run by
global organizations such as USAIDS and UNICEF, are targeted at women and young girls as history has
shown that they are
thestrongest advocates
of safe sex, education, better nutrition and increased health-
seeking behaviours.
Greater representation of women in leadership
, in the healthcare sector, is required in order for our
country to develop our own solutions to meet the specific requirements of the most vulnerable groups in
our population.
6
Challenges to
developing
future
women
leaders in
healthcare
More effective mentoring of young women in healthcare
More opportunities to be part of succession planning at
executive levels
Greater exposure to leadership, boards of healthcare
organisations and clinical research
The gendered nature of sacrifices that need to be made
by mothers with careers
Stereotypes about women in leadership in terms of
productivity, ability and personality
“We want to be part of the cure,
not the disease”