In this latest study, a group of research investigators including PhD researcher Luma Bashmi aims to recognize the increasing contribution made by women in the Bahraini healthcare sector.
Despite women making up a significant proportion of the workforce in healthcare, they remain underrepresented in leadership positions relating to healthcare for a multitude of reasons: balancing personal and work duties, favouritism toward men, and lack of support from colleagues and mentors.
As expected the results indicated that leadership positions were mostly held by males in Bahrain (59.4% vs. 40.6%). However, interestingly, Bahraini males and females equally dominated academic positions.
Male physicians also dominated surgical specialities; however, female Bahraini physicians slightly surpassed male Bahraini physicians at the specialist and consultant levels (female to male: 11.9% vs. 10.4% and 33.2% vs. 30.4%, respectively).
Furthermore, more females were reported to have general licenses. A trend analysis since 2004 showed that female medical students’ representation was higher than males over the years.
This study highlights the increasing trend of women’s participation and contribution to medicine in Bahrain. The data indicated continued growth in the number of female medical students and physicians. As such, it is likely that females will have a bigger impact on healthcare in the future with the potential to hold more leadership positions in Bahrain.
Data for this study was collected from a range of sources, including the Bahraini Ministry of Health, National Health Regulatory Authority, Salmaniya Medical Complex, King Hamad University Hospital, Bahrain Defence Force Royal Medical Services, the College of Medicine and Medical Sciences in the Arabian Gulf University, and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland-Bahrain.
Read this paper Women’s contribution to medicine in Bahrain: leadership and workforce published in BioMed Central here: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-022-00762-9
Luma Bashmi
Is a research member of our IC-ADAPT Consortium, led by Dr Eolene Boyd-McMillan. IC-ADAPT was created to advance ongoing research, development and testing of the IC-ADAPT framework and interventions.
Luma is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge and a Lecturer in Psychology, School of Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland – Bahrain (RCSI).
She was formerly Head of Scientific Research & Development / Chairperson of the Institutional Review Board, King Hamad University Hospital and Co-Founder, Co-Director eLaa Beirut, Lebanon.
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Keep up with Luma on Twitter @LumaB>>