I happened to catch an episode of the CNN series “The Sixties” which featured the rise of the feminist movement. It caught my immediate attention as we here at Patient Commando were hard at work preparing our 2nd Annual Canadian Women Changing Healthcare.

It had escaped my memory that in my lifetime there was a time when there were quotas on the spaces available to women  in medical, dental and law schools. There was a time when airline stewardesses had to be single, with soft hands and were forced to retire at the age of 32. There was a time in my lifetime that women marched in the streets fighting for equality and recognition.

The episode reminded me of  many women who led the way – like journalist Gloria Steinem who infiltrated Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire, Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown (Sex and The Single Girl), author Betty Friedan (The Feminine  Mystique) and the National Organization of Women (NOW) who played such important roles in galvanizing what turned into a global movement.

I couldn’t help but think of the many parallels between that time and certain realities that exist in our healthcare system. As Patient Commando and others have pointed out before, 78% of the health workforce is female but only 19% of the CEOs are women. Only 14% of healthcare companies boards are women while there isn’t a single female CEO of a Fortune 500 healthcare company. This imbalanced representation at the top echelons of our health institutions and industry stakeholders is reminiscent of the same power and gender imbalance that was challenged in the ‘60s.

What this episode highlighted for me was the ingenuity, creativity, passion, and clarity of purpose of the many women who fought courageously to transform our society. Today, so much of the work that’s being done to transform our healthcare system is being led by brave, strong, dedicated women who have taken risks, asked for few rewards, and challenge the norms to create a compassionate system that’s responsive to the needs of the patient.

The 2nd Annual Canadian Women Changing Healthcare honours a group of women who’ve shown selfless leadership, relentless commitment to change and act as role models that all of us, men and women alike, should seek to emulate.  They represent the health spectrum – professionals, educators, business executives, creatives, and of course, patients. The work they do impacts and benefits all of us.

There’s generally unanimous agreement that system transformation requires prioritizing patient experience.  At the forefront of this change are women like these. Patient Commando is honoured to be able to give them well deserved recognition and we  will continue to advocate that the leadership of our institutions expand the inclusion of women at the top echelon to ensure our system fairly represents their status, their impact and their potential to transform a system many citizens believe  needs new vitality, genius and imagination to meet the needs of our population.

Our 2nd Annual Canadian Women Changing Healthcare reminds us all that the movement that started in the 1960’s still has lots of work to do. There are still barriers that need to be overcome. We can all be grateful that women such as these are doing the hard work that’s making such a huge contribution to the hope of millions of us who will benefit from the improved health outcomes that result from their effort.

– Zal Press, Executive Director, Patient Commando