Women doctors and EMOs: roles and perspectives “Towards a women oriented Medicine. European women doctors’ life and work: facilitations and barriers” Dr. Daiva Brogienė Vice President CPME NAPLES 30th MAY 2019

The gender gap The gender gap has been gradually decreasing over the past few decades, today more than half of the doctors are women, but significant disparities continue to exist in another aspect. The gender gap in leadership positions has been postulated to be a result of personal choices made by women who desire work-life balance. It is important to promote awareness of the current status of women medical leadership roles, explore barriers to women aspiring leadership, and to promote strategies to allow for greater women representation in leadership positions.

What are EMOs? EMOs are organizations where strategic decisions are made, where political and lobbying work is doing, policy making through pro-active cooperation on a wide range of health and healthcare related issues. Members are mainly doctors who work for the organizations on an honorary basis. This is a ‘political’ umbrella of organizations which lobbies for the interests of the medical profession at European level. It is therefore imperative that EMOs Executive boards are made up of competent individuals who together offer a mix of skills, experiences and excellent leadership. But, given the long record of women achieving highest leadership positions in many walks of life, the poor representation of women on EMO’s Executive boards has raised a question about whether boards are in practice based on skills, experience and performance.

Summary of Executive Boards of EMO’s Executive Board/Committee Women 1. AEMH European Association of Senior Hospital Physicians 5 1 2. CEOM European Council of Medical Orders 6 3. CPME Standing Committee of European Doctors 7 2 4. EANA European working group of practitioners and specialists in free practice 5. FEMS European Federation of Salaried Doctors 6. UEMO The European Union of General Practitioners 7. UEMS European Union of Medical Specialists 8 8. EJD European Junior Doctors 9 9. EMSA European Medical Students' Association 3 Women are still underrepresented in leadership positions in EMO’s. In 2019 women made up only 12,8 % of the members of the executive boards of 7 EMO’s and 24% of 9 EMO’s.

Leadership attributes of women They may more often possess the interpersonal skills and relational style associated with high emotional intelligence, which is widely considered a key driver of outstanding leadership. Successful women leaders more effectively use the core competencies associated with emotional intelligence. Women also view their leadership positions as highly vulnerable and tend to work longer and harder to prove their worth.

What are the barriers to leadership in EMOs? The excerpts of interview with healthcare leaders Gender gap Women are in a disadvantaged position. To be honest, we have not yet reached a satisfactory level of women representation/woman’s answer. At the higher echelons of the medical profession there are few women, even though they are very good, of very high standard. The few women I know in leadership positions in medicine are high performers and must be better than their male counterparts/man’s answer. Stereotypes Here it is a male dominated situation in terms of power. I avoided joining some lobbies depriving myself of some career opportunities; they were male dominated lobbies, I could not and did not want to cope with their terms /woman’s answer. Our faculty is still a male dominated environment, Our faculty is still a male dominated environment/woman’s answer. Culture/concepts, beliefs, values and roles A woman has to consider whether she want to raise a family; for a man does not make a big difference/man’s answer. Women have a more important say at home; there is still this mentality; it is a cultural influence and it is more natural for women to keep with this kind of mentality/man’s answer. Men have more of a lust for power, they are after power for the sake of power; women are more consensus seekers, cooperative and very logical, unless you make them your enemy /man’s answer. Lack of confidence; Lack of leadership skills ; Stavroula Kalaitz et al. Women, healthcare leadership and societal culture: a qualitative study. Journal of Healthcare Leadership 2019:11 Twenty and twenty-one barriers to women’s leadership were identified within the Greek and Maltese healthcare settings, respectively. Prevailing barriers included work/life balance, lack of family (spousal) support, culture, stereotypes, gender bias and lack of social support.

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Perspectives for EMOs EJD European Junior Doctors EMSA European Medical Students' Association