Gender Issues in Health Care, Case Study Example

Interactions of Men and Women in the Healthcare Field

Introduction

Gender issues in health care are clearly visible in patient care, and interaction with colleagues as well. As the great majority of nurses are female, and the majority of surgeons are male, it is evident that there is an unstated hierarchical relationship between genders. According to the recent report published by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2008), in the United States of America, only about 25 percent of physicians are female, while the proportion of women in other area of health care is significantly higher. Gender discrimination and inequality is in the main focus of the below case study, in particular focus on gender progression. The case study will analyze a real life situation observed by the author, when health care unit managers made a decision on career progression based on bias related to gender. The main issue to be examined is that women in health care are less capable to committing to learning, career progression, and focus than males. The quotes of discussions between the male health care unit manager and the female nurses will be recorded to successfully identify gender bias and prejudices that lead to discrimination of women in health care setting.

Case Description

Working in a busy intensive care unit brings forward several gender-related observations. During the time spent in the health care institution, the author observed that several team leaders and nursing managers showed both potential and motivation to progress their careers. Some of these team leaders and managers were female. The approach towards advancing a career was distinctive to each gender, consequently. Females – while showing both determination and motivation – had less confidence and self-belief, while they were afraid of directly approaching supervisors to advance their career, seek support and training, contribute more towards teamwork, and help in specific projects. Male employees, on the other hand, had a greater level of self-awareness, and as the supervisor was male as well, they were more comfortable talking to them.

In one particular case, a highly experienced female employee approached the supervisor with a proposal to attend a training seminar in order to contribute more towards the team’s work, and develop her skills. The supervisor, however, avoided providing a direct answer, and questioned whether or not the nurse was ready to commit to learning and implementing her skills in work. He asked the female employee whether or not she could fit the course in her busy schedule, and if it would not cause family problems for her. The presence of gender bias, looking at women as homemakers instead of full value employees was clearly visible. While the female nurse replied that she was ready to commit, she was not convincing enough, and the supervisor decided to provide the opportunity of attending the training to a single male nursing team member, who was less experienced than the employee identifying the opportunity. In this case, there are several issues related to male-female communication and career progression identified that will be analyzed below.

Identification of Issues

One of the issues identified in the above case is that the male supervisor automatically assumed that the female nurse’s family commitments would make her unable to be a valuable contributor towards organizational learning and development. The gender bias are clearly visible in the case, as females are automatically assumed to be “half employees, half homemakers”. This type of prejudice clearly stands in the way of female employees’ career progression. The supervisor assumed that because of her family commitments, the female employee would have limited abilities to focus on the task and learning project at hand. However, the supervisor failed to notice that she had enough motivation to research opportunities and took the initiative to come up with her own initiatives. This type of selective judgment of genders can be both harmful and limiting for health care organizations. Instead of looking at the experience level and the fact that the female nurse took the step to identify development opportunities that would benefit the entire team, he simplified the question to one problem: childcare and limited focus.

The second issue identified was related to the attitude of the female employee. Women – in the workplace and in personal life – are socialized to be less assertive than males, and are generally worried about taking the leading role. While there are some examples of women stepping up and standing up against males, they often accept being treated as inferiors. Gender roles embedded in the society determine women’s attitudes towards assertiveness and determination. Instead of making an argument for her case, the female employee took a step back and accepted the opinion of the supervisor. The question is how much did the fact that the supervisor was a male contribute towards her decision. Speaking about her experience, the female employee confirmed that she found it unfair not to be considered for the training and leadership development, but she found herself powerless in the given situation, and could not find any other option but to accept the decision. Another important question arises here: provided that the employee bringing up the idea was a male, and got refused over a less experienced team member, what would their reaction have been? Would they have taken the back seat, as well, or would they have acted based on their gender stereotypes, and argued their case.

The third issue identified in the above case is the lack of objective assessment of skills and experience. The male supervisor did not complete a comparison of the two employees’ experience level and skills to determine which one was more suited for the leadership development and training program, but made a decision based on generalized gender stereotypes, discriminating the female employee. He had no evidence that family commitments would interfere with the training, simply made an assumption based on his gender stereotypes. This way, he did not only fail to make a fair judgment, but also disadvantaged the entire health care unit.

Gender Issues in Heath Care

Bailyn (2009, p. 2) confirms that in health care settings, decisions are often made by  “gendered assumptions – the values, norms, and beliefs”, and this trend is clearly identified in the above case. The supervisor assumed that the female employee was less able to complete the project, as she had other commitments, outside work. However, Bailyin (2009) suggests that in a workplace, the only thing that employees should be judged by is their commitment of work and the quality of their job. As the author (Bailyn, 2009. p. 10) confirms, in several workplaces, “it is more likely to reveal gendered conceptions of competence and commitment, and of ideal work: for example, the emphasis on technical as opposed to relational skills”.

Reflecting on bias related to gender, Linehan et al. (2013, p. 19) finds that “gender typically acts to bias in gendered directions the performance of behaviors”. In the above case, it is clear that thee decision was made based on the supervisor’s bias about women’s ability to engage in training and committing to long term learning, instead of individual assessment of the employee’s abilities, skills, determination, and previous contribution towards teamwork. While a large number of females work in health care profession, as it has been shown through statistical data, there is a gender inequality in medical careers, as Linehan et al. (2013, p. 20) confirms. Further, the authors make another interesting point that needs to be examined in the light of the above case study. According to Linehan et al., medical careers are thought to be those that require full commitment a focus, and the gender stereotypes of the society, as well as the medical profession assume that females are not able to match the above criteria.

Finally, reflecting on the behavior of the female nurse and the male supervisor, it is important to review some of the related research literature related to behavior of sexes. Parcheta  et al. (2013) identify the main differences between men and women in career related activities as follows: socialization of women as being controlled, being viewed as the “weaker sex”, and less flexible due to family commitments. As an example, the authors (Parcheta et al., 2013) state that men are more likely to relocate to advance their career, take the initiative, while being considered as more assertive than women. Women, based on their gender socialization fulfill the assumptions of the society about their behavior, and become less assertive in personal life, as well as career progression. Women are stereotyped as accommodating and passive, and this might be the reason why the female employee decided not to argue her case, but to accept the unjust decision, founded on gender stereotypes.

Conclusion

Based on the analysis of the above case study, it is evident that gender stereotypes in health care setting disadvantage both women and the organization itself. There are several examples of overcoming bias and supporting women through flexible working and specifically designed development programs described by Bailyn’s (2009) case studies. An objective human resources and leadership development program is needed in all health care organizations to create successful, valuable female leaders for the future.

References

Bailyn, L. (2009, April 18). Redesigning Work for Gender Equity and Work-Personal Life Integration. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/workplacecenter/docs/keynote.pdf

Linehan, C., Sweeney, C., Boylan, G., Meghen, K., & Flynn, S. (2013, May). Getting in and getting on in medical careers: how the rules of the game are gendered. Retrieved from http://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/gsf/12220332.0001.102/–getting-in-and-getting-on-in-medical-careers-how-the-rules?rgn=main;view=fulltext

Parcheta, N., Kaifi, B. A., & Khanfar, N. M. (2013). Gender Inequality in the Workforce: A Human Resource Management Quandary. Retrieved from http://jbsq.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/March_2013_17.pdf

World Health Organization (WHO) (2008) Gender and health workforce statistics. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/hrh/statistics/spotlight_2.pdf