Leadership in Discrimination and Gender Equality in the Workforce (Research Paper Sample)

Leadership in Discrimination and Gender Equality in the Health WorkforceNameInstitution Leadership in Discrimination and Gender Equality in the Workforce Introduction Gender is a major factor revolving within the healthcare industry. According to studies analyzing the systematic gender discrimination and equalities in-service and pre-service employment and education systems shows that both the health leaders and researchers do not concentrate on the inequalities as well as other types of discrimination found in employment law docket and the international labor rights. When gender discrimination and other inequalities are not acted on would result in inefficiencies of the systems and development of the robust workforce that cannot cater for the critical health care requirements (Evans & Estacio,2011). To avoid this scenario, it important to set up age and sex-disaggregated and qualitative data that can be able to eradicate all gender related issues and trends within the healthcare industry. For the purpose of accessing this, this paper presents definitions as well as examples gender discrimination and inequalities. At a wider approach, the commentary suggests that gender discrimination and inequality issue should be leadership, governance priority and human resources for heath with an objective of making the pre-service, employment systems and professional educational systems strong enough. When all these have been achieved there, would an improved health care system results such as good health coverage. Health care industry that has good governance, management, and leadership the diversities of health workforces is recognised. In addition, such environment acknowledges the gender constraints, eradicates gender discrimination, ensures that there are all opportunities are equal, enables the health care system to be responsive to life course events and protects the right of all health workers at different levels (VanVactor, 2010). Human resources for health experts have noted the increased gender imbalances within the health workforce which have been a major challenge to health decisions makers. Furthermore, they have discovered that an improvement in gender equality is critical to strengthening workforce figures, skill mix, distribution and ensuring that all policy and planning failures of HR can be traced, and relevant stakeholders held responsibly. Thesis statement Discrimination can be found everywhere, especially in the workforce, but we can also find gender inequality when it comes to the medical field, specifically in the nursing career; bullying, discrimination, and gender inequality will be presented in this research paper. Case study It’s already bad enough to start as a brand new graduate in the nursing field. But a lot of older seasoned nurses take to bullying and scaring off the up and coming new nurses. Is it feared that their job would be taken away? Is it jealousy and they are reminded of when they first started, and the bullying trend must continue? Are they upset that these new nurses will take the advanced positions that they are working hard for? It has not been long that I have worked with a combination of men and women. So, I was not introduced to the different working discriminations that many women and new hires are facing on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. I say this because, when I started working, I was a secretary at a doctor’s office. The doctor I worked for knew me from the time I was barely walking. Therefore, he hired me because at the time I was fresh out of high school and was looking for a part-time job. I was the only secretary for a while, so I did not have to compete or contend with other co-workers in trying to get the bosses’ favour. I was quite naïve when it came to the job section. My boss appreciated everything I did, and I always tried to do the best. It did not occur to me that one day, I would have to worry about a male co-worker with the same educational background and qualifications, get a higher pay than me. Or not getting a position knowing that you have the qualifications over whomever they choose to hire. Or being a brand new graduate nurse and having senior nurses not accept you in their unit. Or being harassed by fellow male and female workers, sexually/physically/mentally, to get you to leave or have some authority over you. All this, I had to learn when I entered the workforce. Nursing has come a long way. It started off with just women to develop years later to include men. How are more people needed in this career path? Male nurses bring a different dimension to the nursing field that encourages some balance in the workforce. I would like to find out whether there is more stability in the work area when there are only women or a combination of male and female nurses. Showing that male nurse can bring their special talents to the table can encourage more male nurses to join the nursing field. Male nurses are very helpful, and when there is a balance in the workforce, I think the work/task can go smoothly. This will be discussed further in my research paper. The concept of gender discrimination and inequalities in health workforce Gender differences can be defined as inefficient systems that result in clogged health workforce education lines, bottlenecks in the recruitment procedures, misdistribution of workers both in formal and non-formal health sectors (Ncayiyana, 2011). The process of fostering the health gender equality raises the possibility of both men and women having equal chances of occupation health choice, acquisition of basic skills and knowledge, fair hiring and pay, being treated equally, as well as having equal advancement rights. In health organizations where the policy of non-discrimination, proper planning and gender equality and be able to have a real target of gender stereotype that may enable men to take those jobs know for women such HIV/AIDS and nursing care. When equality policies are well focused, it is possible to recognize that female health workers’ lives revolve around childbirth and attention. Gender has been implicated in different health workforce considerations such as: • Hierarchies’ concentrations and structures of the workforce, • Integrations between the client and the care provider, • The composition of female workers, • wage differences • The mobility of health worker • Differences in workplace knowledge safety Human resource for health professionals identifies gender inequalities and discrimination in several ways depending on how they appear with the health workforce. The indicators show that there no clear historical understanding of the framework of gender inequalities since everyone in health workforce have their sequential way of examining the possible workforce (Adams, 2004). Health workforce professional leadership Leadership can be termed as the individuals are directed to perform certain duties within a given organization towards fulfilling the organizational goal. The main objective of leadership role includes group motivation and adapting to changes. It has been a difficult situation to consider the leadership theory that can be effective in healthcare context since most of the known theories were developed for business settings and then used in healthcare. However, when these theories are effectively applied in healthcare, they result to good results in the health workforce. Health workforce is composed of several professional groups, specialists and departments that have nonlinear interactions. These systems are normally complex in a unparallel manner due to constraints related to diseases differences, multidisciplinary workforce and multidirectional objectives. It is, therefore, important for leaders to emphasize on diversifying the organization and effectively use the resources available to design attractive management processes while still giving encouragement to the organizational personnel to work towards achieving the set goals. Various leadership approaches can be applied in health workforce for the purpose of optimizing the management and ensuring that cases of inequalities and gender discrimination are minimized. For the purpose of this paper, collaborative leadership theory will be used as a point of reference. Collaborative leadership theory Collaboration is a cooperative and assertive process that occurs when people work together with an aim of achieving the set goal that symbolizes the organization. Collaborative leadership theory involves effective communication between the management and the workers as well as including everyone in the decision-making process. Collaborative communication techniques improve the way health workforce is managed since it encourages dialogue between the shareholders, accepts sharing of ideas, knowledge and experience. In addition, collaborative leadership theory minimizes the complexity level within health workforce. Under this theory, people at different levels are required to engage themselves with the leadership process for the purpose of being involved validating and communicating the importance as well as identifying the changes required in the healthcare environment due to changing demands. A collaborative leadership needs a synergetic working environment where all the parties are encouraged to be united towards the development of effective practices. With such collaboration in the health workforce, gender understanding and limited cases of discrimination are exercised resulting in interdependence and integration among the health care workers. In addition, all individuals are unitized by a shared vision and values. HRH leaders are supposed to be in the first line in modeling a collaborative environment, raise motivational levels and maintain interdependence b...