The feminization of medicine in Latin America: 'More-the-merrier' will not beget gender equity or strengthen health systems

Felicia Marie Knaul; Héctor Arreola-Ornelas; Beverley M Essue; Renu Sara Nargund; Patricia García; Uriel Salvador Acevedo Gómez; Roopa Dhatt; Alhelí Calderón-Villarreal; Pooja Yerramilli; Ana Langer

doi:10.1016/j.lana.2022.100201

The feminization of medicine in Latin America: 'More-the-merrier' will not beget gender equity or strengthen health systems

Lancet Reg Health Am. 2022 Feb 22:8:100201. doi: 10.1016/j.lana.2022.100201. eCollection 2022 Apr.

Authors

Felicia Marie Knaul^{1

2

3

4}, Héctor Arreola-Ornelas^{1

3

4

5}, Beverley M Essue^{1

6}, Renu Sara Nargund¹, Patricia García⁷, Uriel Salvador Acevedo Gómez³, Roopa Dhatt^{1

8

9}, Alhelí Calderón-Villarreal^{10

11}, Pooja Yerramilli¹², Ana Langer¹³

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA.
² Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
³ Fundación Mexicana Para la Salud, Mexico City, Mexico.
⁴ Tómatelo a Pecho, Mexico City, Mexico.
⁵ Centro de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Anáhuac, Mexico City, Mexico.
⁶ Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Canada.
⁷ Academic Department of Public Health, Administration and Social Sciences, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru.
⁸ Women in Global Health, District of Columbia, WA, USA.
⁹ Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine, District of Columbia, WA, USA.
¹⁰ Global Health Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
¹¹ Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
¹² Division of General Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
¹³ Department of Global Health and Population, Women and Health Initiative, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

This viewpoint addresses the lack of gender diversity in medical leadership in Latin America and the gap in evidence on gender dimensions of the health workforce. While Latin America has experienced a dramatic change in the gender demographic of the medical field, the health sector employment pipeline is rife with entrenched and systemic gender inequities that continue to perpetuate a devaluation of women; ultimately resulting in an under-representation of women in medical leadership. Using data available in the public domain, we describe and critique the trajectory of women in medicine and characterize the magnitude of gender inequity in health system leadership over time and across the region, drawing on historical data from Mexico as an illustrative case. We propose recommendations that stand to disrupt the status quo to more appropriately value women and their representation at the highest levels of decision making for health. We call for adequate measurement of equity in medical leadership as a matter of national, regional, and global priority and propose the establishment of a regional observatory to monitor and evaluate meaningful progress towards gender parity in the health sector as well as in medical leadership.

Publication types

Review