Report reflects on gender diversity in digital health

While more women are choosing to continue their careers in digital heath, the gender pay gap continues to exist, according to the Gender Diversity in Australia’s Digital Health Workforce 2024 Report.

Published by Telstra Health in conjunction with RMIT University, the report was based on the 2023 census on gender diversity and aims to address the lack of research and data on this topic in digital health, both in Australia and internationally. The report was launched at the Digital Health CRC’s (DHCRC) inaugural Digital Health Expo Series event, The Diverse Digital Health Workforce.

The report found that more women (34.1%) are managing others compared to men (13.4%), while more men (46.3%) than women (26.8%) said they desire to reach senior leadership level. 54.9% of women and 36.2% of men said they do not desire to reach senior leadership level, according to the report.

It further acknowledged that there have been positive developments between the 2021 and 2023 censuses but there are also areas that need further industry focus, including addressing gender pay equity, with women earning $500–1500 less on average per week before tax than men.

The 2023 census was facilitated by the DHCRC in partnership with RMIT University, The University of Melbourne, Telstra Health and the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care, working closely with a number of agencies including the Australian Library and Information Association Health Libraries Australia, the Australasian Institute of Digital Health and the Health Information Management Association of Australia.

Achieving reform

Dr Clare Morgan, Digital Health CRC’s Deputy CEO and Director of Research, Translation, and Commercialisation, recognised that diversity is about more than just gender. “The digital health workforce should be representative of the population it serves. Diversity in age, cultural background, ability, race, religion and sexual orientation are all just as important as gender,” Morgan said.

Professor Kerryn Butler-Henderson, co-lead on the DHCRC project, said, “When we look at the data from the past three censuses over the last five years, we see a growing pattern across the workforce.

“The more traditional roles that were once paper-focused, such as health librarians and clinical coders, are held by older women, whereas the roles that have emerged over the past two decades, such as informatics, technology and data science roles, are predominantly held by younger men. This is a concerning trend seen in other fields that we need to change today,” Butler-Henderson said.

Other key highlights from the report include the following: 10% more women have more than 10 years’ digital health experience compared to three years ago; over 97% of women believe progress and change needs to be made to reach gender equity; and 55% of women felt they need to prove themselves in the workplace compared to 50% of men.

Kathleen Gray, Professor at The University of Melbourne, co-lead of the project and panellist at the Diverse Digital Health Workforce event, said, “Elevating the status of women in digital health management, investment, research and innovation roles can bring greater sensitivity to these issues.

“However, achieving this workforce reform has to build on a broad base of women with secure work in specialist digital health roles. The census data can help to assess, target and overcome obstacles to women’s representation in the digital health workforce.”

Collaboration and diversity to drive growth

Elizabeth Koff, Managing Director at Telstra Health, recognises the need for collaboration and diversity to drive the sector forward.

“It is important to maintain a commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion in our workplaces and pave the way for a sustainable sector in which all people have an equal opportunity to improve the healthcare system through technology and digital health innovations,” Koff said.

Report co-author Dr Salma Arabi shared that there are implications from the findings of the report. “We need to mandate formal digital health training, address the barriers to career advancement for women in technical fields, and consider intersectionality, such as First Nations status, disability and migration status, are creating additional workforce gaps beyond gender.”

Areas of concern

Anja Nikolic, CEO of AIDH, celebrated the positives seen in the report but also shared her thoughts on the areas of concern.

“While we celebrate the strides made in increasing women’s representation and experience in digital health, it is unfortunately not surprising to see gender disparity in leadership and remuneration in a female-dominated workforce,” Nikolic said.

“The 2024 report underscores the urgent need to address persistent issues such as gender pay equity and the under-representation of women in senior roles. This also extends to all kinds of diversity, not just gender. A diverse DH workforce representative of the population will be better placed to ensure our DH systems are inclusive and guarantee the best health outcomes for everyone.”

In Australia, women are under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), with only 15% of STEM-qualified jobs held by women. Among senior management roles, women only make up 25% of these positions, and only 10% of CEO-level roles are filled by women.

You can view the findings of the full report here.

Image credit: iStock.com/skynesher