Men lead, women cramp: A new study shows the gender gap in hospitals

Recently, SVP municipal councilor Saskia Meyer was elected as the fourth woman to the board of directors of the Bülach hospital in Zurich. With a total of nine seats, the share of women has risen to 45 percent. An exception. In many other hospitals, one or at most two women sit on the board of directors – or none at all.

If we look at all Swiss acute care hospitals, the proportion of women in management is 28 percent. The gender gap at the top is even wider: 15 percent of president and vice president positions are women. This is the conclusion of a new study by consultancy Mueller Healthcare Consulting, which specializes in healthcare companies.

She not only looked at the male-female ratio, but also checked the composition of the board and foundation boards for other characteristics. Using the data available on the internet, the consultancy analyzed the age, nationality and expertise of the top strategic committees of a total of 120 hospitals and hospital groups. The investigation does not pretend to be complete, but provides information about the situation.

With 28 percent women in management positions, the picture in the hospital system is similar to that in the economy as a whole: In the 100 largest Swiss companies, women occupy a total of 29 percent of board seats, according to the latest Schilling report. The rate has increased significantly in recent years.

Such an evaluation has not yet been made for hospitals. The predominance of men in leadership positions is remarkable because it is exactly the other way around for health workers: three-quarters are women. They care, work as physiotherapists or doctors. The gender gap is greatest among nursing staff: 85 percent of positions are held by women. Only among physicians is the sex ratio roughly balanced.

The most notable difference between management and the rest of the workforce is nationality: according to the analysis, 93 percent of board and foundation board members are Swiss. On the other hand, about a third of the nursing staff come from abroad. And according to the Schilling report, 36 percent of members of the boards of large Swiss companies also hold foreign passports.

The conclusion of the consultancy in a nutshell: “The top management layers largely consist of ‘older’ gentlemen with Swiss nationality.” When dealing with the shortage of skilled labour, the question arises whether such a discrepancy with the rest of the workforce is beneficial.

When it comes to the competencies of the members of the board of directors and the foundation board, ‘economics and finance’ is clearly at the top. Every third member has experience in this area. Medical knowledge comes second. According to the analysis, this core expertise is not represented at all in almost a quarter of the hospitals.

Another supposedly important topic is digitization and IT. Only three percent of board members are well versed in this – “despite the current relevance of digitization issues in the healthcare sector”, the study authors state.

They calculated a diversity index based on all characteristics. Thus, the top 3 hospitals with the best mixed management bodies are: the private hospital group Pallas Kliniken, the private hospital of Geneva “Hôpital de la Tour” and the Berner Insel Group. The Kantonsspital Aarau and the Hirslanden Group are located in the lower third. The evaluation showed no relationship between the type or size of the hospital and the mix. (aargauerzeitung.ch)