Women's Network—Encouraging Women Leaders in Health Law

• March 01, 2022

• Kathleen E. Reardon , Performant Corporation
• Sydney Jiang , Dana Hall School

In 2020, women made up only 21% of law firm leadership,¹ and a study in general counsel compensation found that women earned a third less in annual compensation than their male general counsel counterparts.² Yet, MSCI’s 2017 study found that “U.S. companies [sic] with three or more female directors reported earnings per share that were 45% higher than those companies with no female directors.”³ Organizations that encourage women’s access to leadership positions see higher returns on their investments and see positive developments in their company culture. There are myriad ways in which organizations can promote female leadership, including programming that supports female leadership, mentorship, improved benefits, and corporate cultural initiatives.

Organizations that promote training and career pathways for women will see greater success in improving the gender ratio in leadership. One of the leading causes of gender inequity in corporate leadership flows from the fact that, traditionally, women receive fewer opportunities and resources that open their pathways to leadership positions. According to a report by Working Mother Media, only 15% of women received coaching about these career paths, a dramatic contrast to the 48% of men who were given extensive information that would assist them with their future.⁴ In paving internal pathways towards leadership and providing skill-based career coaching, employers can encourage women towards leadership roles within their firms and organizations.

The pandemic has highlighted the pressures born by working women who carry dueling responsibilities between work and home, and as the legal industry emerges from the pandemic, organizations should pause before rushing back to the office and consider what flexibilities can be maintained. For women, who often carry extensive responsibilities in the home, flexibility has long been an important factor in the work-home balance; working from home or a hybrid of in-person and remote work will allow them to remain in the workforce as they adjust their schedules to accommodate family life. Firms that support such flexibility will innately encourage female growth and leadership within their organizations.

Corporate culture must also be examined when assessing how to support equity and inclusion of women within the organization. The accumulation of biases and microaggressions in corporate cultures considerably hinders career paths for women. Microaggressions arise when women defy stereotypical traits such as passivity and are severely detrimental to women’s well-being and pathways to leadership roles. For example, data from Jessica Nordell’s NormCorp study showed that “more than three-quarters of women’s critical evaluations contained negative comments about their personalities, compared with 2 percent of men’s [evaluations].”⁵ Furthermore, a recent Boston Consulting Group study of over 200,000 employees found that “in workplaces where men and women said their company had made good progress on diversifying their top ranks, 85% of midcareer women reported they sought a higher leadership position, nearly equal to the 87% of men who said so,” exhibiting the positive impact of corporate culture and DEI initiatives on women and their ambition.⁶ Firms should prioritize DEI initiatives that aim to create environments where women are heard, respected, and encouraged to lead.

Finally, advocacy and mentorship are key to fostering women’s advancement. Employers should consider building networks for women within their own organizations and industries, working to retain and promote women into leadership roles. In addition, organizations can formalize their feedback cycles to ensure that women’s voices are heard and challenges are addressed. Employers, likewise, should collect baseline data and establish key performance indicators (KPIs), a crucial approach that many companies overlook. KPIs such as the percentages of women in different cohorts and promotion statistics are vital to an organization’s ability to review its current progress in DEI initiatives, discover gaps in geography or department functions, and identify what policies should be adjusted for optimal results. Finally, top female executives who seek to equalize the gender disparity in leadership can seek out colleagues and join hiring committees as advocates. Over time, companies that implement these initiatives will see more women excelling in executive positions and achieving their goals.

Gender inequality is a problem deeply rooted in our culture and history that negatively impacts society. It is imperative that employers work to elevate women in the leadership pipeline and pave the way for future generations of women lawyers to thrive in the workplace. While the short-term financial and social benefits are indeed significant, the long-term outcomes of adding increased female leadership will dramatically change the world for the better, driving innovation, collaboration, and inclusion into workplaces and beyond.

Kathleen E. Reardon is Manager of Healthcare Services Privacy & Compliance at Performant Corporation. She is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts and New York and has mentored and tutored young women for over 20 years.

Sydney Jiang is a Junior at Dana Hall School in Massachusetts and a volunteer for the American Cancer Society, for which she leads the annual Relay for Life event in her hometown. She has worked with Ms. Reardon for seven years as a mentee and co-author of articles.

ARTICLE TAGS

• Women's Leadership
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Health Care Hub