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Gender bias in hospital leadership: a qualitative study on the experiences of women CEOs

Sophie Soklaridis (Office of Education, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada) (Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada)
Ayelet Kuper (The Wilson Centre, University Health Network, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada)
Cynthia R. Whitehead (Women’s College Hospital, The Wilson Centre, University Health Network, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada)
Genevieve Ferguson (Office of Education, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada)
Valerie H. Taylor (Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada) (Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada)
Catherine Zahn (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada) (Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada)

Journal of Health Organization and Management

ISSN: 1477-7266

Article publication date: 10 April 2017

3577

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the experiences of gender bias among women hospital CEOs and explore to what these female leaders attribute their success within a male-dominated hospital executive leadership milieu.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study involved 12 women hospital CEOs from across Ontario, Canada. Purposeful sampling techniques and in-depth qualitative interview methods were used to facilitate discussion around experiences of gender and leadership.

Findings

Responses fell into two groups: the first group represented the statement “Gender inequality is alive and well”. The second group reflected the statement “Gender inequity is not significant, did not happen to me, and things are better now”. This group contained a sub-group with no consciousness of systemic discrimination and that claimed having no gendered experiences in their leadership journey. The first group described gender issues in various contexts, from the individual to the systemic. The second group was ambivalent about gender as a factor impacting leadership trajectories.

Originality/value

Representations of women’s leadership have become detached from feminism, with major consequences for women. This study reveals how difficult it is for some women CEOs to identify gender bias. The subtle everyday norms and practices within the workplace make it difficult to name and explain gender bias explicitly and may explain the challenges in understanding how it might affect a woman’s career path.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the CEOs who generously contributed their experiences, ideas and opinions to this study. The authors would also like to thank Hema Zbogar for her editorial assistance with this manuscript. This research was not funded.

Citation

Soklaridis, S., Kuper, A., Whitehead, C.R., Ferguson, G., Taylor, V.H. and Zahn, C. (2017), "Gender bias in hospital leadership: a qualitative study on the experiences of women CEOs", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 253-268. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-12-2016-0243

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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