Workforce Innovation through Equity

What really matters for gender equity in Med-tech organisations?

A research team lead by A/Professor Brendan Boyle at Newcastle Business School worked with the Medical Technology Association of Australia to investigate what really matters for gender equity in med-tech organisations. Compared to the wider workforce, women are underrepresented in STEM industries, including in the medical technology sector.

Cognisant of this problem, the study explored the barriers and enablers to achieving gender equity in MedTech and to provide guidance to industry leaders on the practices and strategies that are key to promoting gender equity The data reveal a belief that while macro (societal level) barriers to gender equity persist, with gender and “ideal worker” norms still holding women back, macro factors, such as generational and societal attitude changes, are enabling progress.

The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic were positive and negative for women, with some taking on a “double-load” while working from home, while others reported a significant normalisation of flexible work, a process believed to be an important enabler of gender equity.

At the meso (industry level), barriers included a limited talent pipeline, the current representation of women in leadership roles and some customer segments that were male dominated. By contrast, interviewees believed that the sector is making the business case for gender equity, creating formal recognition of the issue and in some cases engaging with higher education providers to enable positive change.

At the micro (organisational) level, barriers to gender equity included poor organisational culture and ownership of the gender-equity agenda and/or awareness of formal polices designed to ensure it.

An important characteristic of this study design was its focus on management practice. The practical focus is manifest in the question, what really matters?

The report presented six Principles for Management Practice.

Principle 1

Measurement matters: Gender goals must be measured

Principle 2

Formalisation matters: Gender goals must be formalised.

Principle 3

Articulation of the business case matters: Gender equity is good business.

Principle 4

Flexibility matters: Like it or not, flexible working matters.

Principle 5

Normalisation matters: Within and across organisations, the normalisation and profiling of equity matters.

Principle 6

Job design matters: Rethinking the ‘traditional’ role and how organisations present job design in recruitment and promotion matters to the talent pool.

Interested in learning more, a link to the full report is here.