Abstract
Abstract
Background
Feminization of health workforce has been globally documented, but it has not been investigated in China. This study aims to analyze changes in the gendered composition of health workforce and explore the trend in different types of health workforce, health organizations and majors within China’s health system.
Methods
The data were collected from China Health Statistical Yearbook from 2002 to 2020. We focused on health professionals including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists in health organizations. Trend analysis was employed to examine the change in the ratio of female health workforce over 18 years. The estimated average annual percent change (AAPC) was estimated, and the reciprocals of variances for the female ratios were used as weights.
Results
In China, health professionals increased from 4.7 million in 2002 to 10.68 million in 2020. Health professionals per 1000 population increased from 3.41 in 2002 to 7.57 in 2020. The ratio of female health professionals significantly increased from 63.85% in 2002 to 72.4% in 2020 (AAPC = 1.04%, 95% CI 0.96–1.11%, P < 0.001). Female doctors and pharmacists increased 4.7 and 7.9 percentage points from 2002 to 2020. Female health workers at township health centers, village clinics, centers for disease control and prevention had higher annual increase rate (AAPC = 1.67%, 2.25% and 1.33%, respectively) than those at hospital (0.70%) and community health center (0.5%). Female doctors in traditional Chinese medicine, dentistry and public health had higher annual increase rate (AAPC = 1.82%, 1.53% and 1.91%, respectively) than female clinical doctor (0.64%).
Conclusions
More women are participating in the healthcare sector in China. However, socially lower-ranked positions have been feminizing faster, which could be due to the inherent and structural gender norms restricting women’s career. More collective and comprehensive system-level actions will be needed to foster a gender-equitable environment for health workforce at all levels.
Funder
Chinese Government Scholarship
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference63 articles.
1. Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/.
2. World Economic Forum. Global Gender Gap Report 2022. 2022.
3. Female labor force participation. https://genderdata.worldbank.org/data-stories/flfp-data-story/#:~:text=Women%20are%20less%20likely%20to%20work%20for%20income,progression.%20When%20women%20do%20work%2C%20they%20earn%20less.
4. Liang JZ, Ren ZP, Huang WZ, He YF, Yu J, Bao D. China Women’s Career Development Report 2023 edition. 2023.
5. Hay K, McDougal L, Percival V, Henry S, Klugman J, Wurie H, Raven J, Shabalala F, Fielding-Miller R, Dey A. Disrupting gender norms in health systems: making the case for change. The Lancet. 2019;393:2535–49.