Women and leadership: widening the healthcare pipeline

Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, delivered a speech at the first Journée de réseaux de femmes dans la santé en Région Sud in Aix-en-Provence, France, to mark the launch of Essenti’Elles Santé for Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

She highlighted the historical tendency to symbolize women rather than empower them as leaders, especially in healthcare, a sector where women are the majority of staff but underrepresented in leadership roles.

Lagarde discussed legal reforms in France, including a 2023 law increasing gender representation in senior civil service appointments from 40% to 50%, and noted progress in legal rights for women, ranking France fourth internationally in women’s economic participation rights.

Despite legal advances, she pointed out that the career pipeline narrows early, with women less likely to be promoted from entry-level to managerial roles, due to barriers related to availability and promotability.

She explained that women often face challenges balancing unpaid care work, which affects their career progression, and are more likely to be assigned low-visibility tasks that hinder promotion.

Lagarde emphasized organizational strategies to address these issues, including measuring commitment without penalizing flexibility, rotating low-visibility tasks fairly, and setting targets for women’s advancement at all levels.

The ECB has implemented measures such as core hours, remote work options, and targeted recruitment efforts to promote gender equality.

She concluded by stressing the importance of collective action through networks like Essenti’Elles Santé to amplify women’s voices and influence organizational change, moving beyond symbolic monuments to tangible progress in leadership equality.