“If I'm angry, I'm hysterical; if I'm emotional, I'm weak; if I so much as raise my voice, I'm a bi**h”
The above statement from a movie describes a woman leader’s struggle on-screen. Does this represent the real-life situation?
Although women make up three-quarters of the NHS workforce, they remain under-represented in senior leadership roles. While progress has been made in increasing the proportion of women in leadership roles across health services, much more is needed to meet NHS targets. Previous surveys showed that women scored higher than men in 12 of the 16 leadership competencies and have huge amounts to contribute to leadership.
Despite this, women remain underrepresented in senior leadership positions due to seemingly multiple factors including, “culture of old boys’ networks, nepotism, prejudice and a macho, pace setting environment” (Kings Fund). In addition, childcare and family responsibilities limit how much women can join in work-related social events, making it even more difficult to break into male-dominated networks. Moreover, women leaders are more likely to work less-than-full-time due to family responsibilities, which further increases the pressure on them. Several (idealising and denigrating) perceptions and stereotypes prevail about women in leadership positions. The gender barrier seems to be exacerbated by ethnicity factor.
This session aims to examine these complex factors from personal perspectives of women leaders from three different ethnic (White, Black and Asian) backgrounds. The speakers will take us through their leadership journeys focussing on what external and internal struggles they had to work through to reach their current positions and how they manage their roles every day. This will be followed by an interview session by a Medical Psychotherapist and an aspiring woman leader, focussing their questions to these women leaders on the role of intersectionality and demystifying the myths about women in leadership positions.
Learning objectives
In this session you will:
- Gain understanding of the barriers faced by women aspiring for leadership positions
- Learn about the intersectionality of gender, ethnicity and age factors in women’s leadership journeys and how to helpfully manage these aspects in achieving the professional goals
- Gain understanding of the strengths women leaders could bring to healthcare leadership.
Speakers
Chair: Dr Swapna Kongara, Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London
Dr Swapna Kongara, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Psychotherapy Faculty
Dr Rachel Gibbons, Vice Chair, Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London
Dr Trudi Seneviratne, Registrar, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London
Dr Jo O'Reilly, Chair, Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London
Dr Ananta Dave, NHS Black Country ICB, Wolverhampton
Availability
This webinar is part of the Congress webinar 2025 package. If you attended all four days of Congress, you will have access to these as part of your Congress package. Otherwise the Congress webinar 2025 package can be purchased below.
