Washington, DC, March 8, 2024 (PAHO)- Even although girls make up 70% of well being and care sector employees worldwide, barely 25% occupy management positions. At an occasion to mark International Women’s Day, the Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Jarbas Barbosa, referred to as for higher assist to girls’s management whereas strengthening the well being workforce, particularly within the wake of destructive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We can not obtain common well being or attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with out fairness in well being and gender equality within the well being sector,” Dr. Barbosa said during the High-Level Dialogue “Women’s Leadership within the Regional Health and Resilience Agenda,” organized by the Inter-American Task Force on Women’s Leadership with the assist of the Government of Canada and beneath the coordination of the Inter-American Commission of Women of the Organization of American States (CIM/OAS).

During his intervention on the OAS headquarters, the PAHO Director highlighted the obstacles confronted by girls well being employees, which have repercussions not solely on their financial and social well-being but additionally of their communities. Dr. Barbosa referred to as for extra illustration of girls in decision-making areas and emphasised the significance of listening to their voices. “We must build more equitable, gender-equal, resilient and sustainable societies,” which suggests “investing in women and their leadership,” he harassed.

A World Health Organization (WHO) gender and equity analysis of the global health and social work workforce reveals that management disparities between women and men are the results of stereotypes, discrimination, energy imbalance and privilege. In addition, girls’s disadvantages are multiplied when mixed with components comparable to race and sophistication. In the healthcare sector, girls occupy decrease positions and obtain decrease salaries in comparison with males. This pay hole, at 26%, is larger than in different sectors.

PAHO is among the ten United Nations organizations the place girls represent greater than 50% of the workforce. In addition, fairness and gender equality are core values of the Organization, built-in into all insurance policies, applications and technical cooperation work.

“At PAHO, we are committed to investing in women and we firmly believe that incorporating women’s and girls’ voices and perspectives in decision-making is essential for building resilient health systems and will positively impact health and development,” the PAHO Director stated.

OAS Secretary-General, Luis Almagro, highlighted the Organization’s historic dedication to gender equality, manifested in its conventions and the Inter-American Democratic Charter. He additionally highlighted the pioneering position of the OAS in selling gender-equality within the Americas over the previous nearly 100-years by way of the Inter-American Commission on Women. The Secretary-General additionally talked about the normative framework constructed by the OAS within the space of girls’s rights, which has contributed to pondering on a wide range of points comparable to parity in electoral processes, and higher illustration of girls in positions of energy.

Despite this progress, Luis Almagro acknowledged that gender inequalities persist in a number of areas, together with the precise to well being, which was significantly evident through the pandemic. He subsequently harassed the necessity to “adopt transformative approaches” to change “the social structures and norms that perpetuate gender discrimination.”

Dr. Rhonda Sealey-Thomas, PAHO Assistant Director, spoke throughout a panel on Women’s Participation and Leadership within the Regional Health Agenda: Opportunities and Challenges. During the panel, she emphasised the Organization’s dedication to extend the illustration of girls in management positions at PAHO and to make sure that girls within the area are capable of lead productive lives and attain their full potential.

For Dr. Sealey-Thomas, the Health Workforce Policy 2030 is essential in in search of to include a gender perspective into labor insurance policies within the well being sector. When it involves entry to well being companies for ladies, the Assistant Director talked about PAHO’s work in the direction of the elimination of cervical most cancers and emphasised the significance of bettering entry to HPV testing and vaccination. “Through PAHO, countries can improve access to essential tools that can save women’s lives and give them the opportunity to live productive lives and assume positions of leadership,” she stated.

The occasion was additionally attended by Alejandra Mora Mora, Executive Secretary of the CIM/OAS; Roopa Dhatt, Executive Director of Women in Global Health, and Christine Harmston, Director General of the Office of International Affairs of the Health Portfolio Public Health Agency of Canada, in addition to different regional authorities and representatives of the well being sector.

The Inter-American Task Force on Women’s Leadership is a platform composed of twelve worldwide organizations dedicated to selling gender equality and girls’s empowerment by way of higher cooperation and synergies amongst establishments. Members of the Task Force are: CIM/OAS, IACHR, ECLAC, PAHO/WHO, ParlAmericas, UNDP, UN Women, the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), IDEA International, CIWiL and CLADEM.