The Impact Of Race And Gender On The Underrepresentation Of African American Women In Healthcare Administration

Disparities in Leadership Representation

The need for strong leadership and the increased diversity has been a prominent issue in today health care workforce. There has been under presentation of the Africa America women in the health care administration leadership (Elesser, 2011). With the high level of the health problem which are found in the black community, diversifying of the executive leadership with the Africa America women could be instrumental when it comes to increasing on the provider trust as well as reducing on the discriminatory action. Using of the critical race theory as the conceptual framework, this research would examine on the experiences, perceptions, as well as the influential or deterrent factors which inhibit the advancement of the African American women in the health care field (Fain, 2012).  The gender differences usually exists to the type of the leadership roles the women attain. There is salary disparity which prevails, even when controlling for the gender differences in the attainment of the education, age as well as the experience (Fain, 2012). In this research examines on the review of the various literature, which include research as well as proposed agendas, in regards to the African American women in the executive healthcare leadership.

The health care industry has grown as well as evolved in order to meet on the market, societal as well as the demand of the populations. According to Bruckmuller & Haslam (2014), there have been health disparities particularly for the African American women. These women have had a lower life expectancy, higher death rates as well as the higher infant mortality than individuals of the other ethnicities (Bruckmuller, Ryan, Rink & Haslam, 2014). This problem has been a concern to the health care administrators especially when it comes to the finding of the knowledgeable as well as culturally competent leaders who represent their interest of the diverse patient population along with managing on the myriad cultural perspectives. Nonetheless, apart from these health disparities and the changing demographics, there has been little change which has been realized when it comes to the demographic and the cultural diversity of the hospital board representatives as well as the senior leadership with respect to the African American women.

The women are usually under recognized as well as underused potential in the leadership group. According to the Bukalew, Konstantinopolulos, Russell & El-Sherbini, on their journal on the future women CEO, they noted that it was only fifteen of the top one hundred acute care hospitals in the USA which were led by the female as the CEOs (Bukalew, Konstantinopolulos, Russell & El-Sherbini,). Moreover, they noted from the American College of the Healthcare Executive that the African American women only make up the twenty six percent of the top female executives. The women as well as the minorities make up more than half of the individuals who lives in Washington, DC. Most of them are not in the present executive roles, to where there is creation of the strategic plans. Without the presence of diversity when it comes to the executive level, there could be difficult when it comes to the pinpointing of the unique needs of the varied ethnic groups in the communities.

Gender-Based Salary Disparities

The health care leader have a big role when it comes to the planning as well as the refining of the organizational operations in order to improve on the clinical outcomes (Jean-marie, 2013). The inherent role when it comes to the health leaders’ desire would be to reduce on the health care disparities is to establish as well as institute on the culturally considerate strategic plans which are based on the community demographics that are designed in the advancement of the health equity (Jean-marie, 2013). The minorities usually do not benefit from the health services due to the poor cultural match which is between the minority patients and to their providers, mistrust, misunderstanding of the provider, or perhaps lack of the knowledge of how to use best the healthcare services.

There has been disparity which exists in the under representation of the African American women when it comes to the health care senior leadership. This has become the multifaceted issue which has encompassed to the quest for the equality of the women, as well as the fight for the representation for the color, ethnic and cultural competences as well as the quality for the care particularly in the USA healthcare. According to Chin (2013), the race and the gender are some of the impacting factors when it comes to the hiring decisions.

There has been lack of the senior leader in the health care an exploration when it comes to new dimension particularly when it comes to broadening off the patient’s demographics with the new order to the social power as well as the leader effectiveness (Jean-marie, 2013). The presence of the women particularly in the health care organization clearly shows the need of that organization to advance with the diversified executive body, as well as the women of color. There are various theories which have been proposed by different scholars in order to elaborate on the aspect of the African American women who have been under represented in the leadership. An example is Byrd (2014), who proposed on the theory of black feminist and the critical race theory (Byrd, 2014). These theories provide and give voice to every day live experiences especially to these women in leaders. There have further explained on how the women encounter racism, gender and social disposition particularly when working in the white organization (Byrd, 2014). There is a need to dialogue to be able to stimulate on the inclusive as well as the sociocultural theoretical frameworks of the leadership. Based on Cook & Glass (2014), on their article on women and Top leadership positions, they have focussed on the theories of institutional level which could shape on the access of women and the tenure to the top positions (Cook & Glass, 2014).  They believe that there is diversity particularly to the decision makers and not on the firm performance, and this would significantly increase on the chances of women being promoted to the top leaderships. Nonetheless, there are also contradictions especially when it comes to the savior effect which could diversify amongst the decision makers which may increase the women leadership tenure to be the CEOs despite the performance of the organization (Cook & Glass, 2013).

Importance of Culturally Competent Leaders

It is important for the health care organizations to expand on their knowledge when it comes to the benefits of having women in the executive leadership roles. The African American women need to advance on their knowledge in relation to the hiring practices which could adversely impact on their advancement.  In accordance to Turner, Caroline, Juan and Kathleen (2011), in their research they have provided various recommendation for the improvement of the women in leadership. For example they have recommended that the practices should inform the organization that the African American women are part of the succession planning in the event they are qualified applicants (Turner, Caroline, Juan and Kathleen, 2011). There is need to have more diversity as well as the cultural competency when it comes to the training of the leaders along with the human resource departments (Gooden, Dantley, 2012). Having the African American women in the decision making role could assist the organization when it comes to the social change.

Conclusion

This research has focused on the Impact of Race and Gender on the Underrepresentation of African American Women in Healthcare Administration. There has been an importance understanding on the plight which has been faced by the African American women especially when it comes to the leadership in the health care. It is important to understand that their plight has been coined as a double jeopardy, which is being black and female.  This dual minority status add up to their extra inescapable challenge which is faced by this population on the continuum. The concept of the dual demerit has been mirrored on the literature in regards to the intersectionality of both the race and the gender.

References

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Cook, A. & Glass, C. (2014).  Women and Top Leadership Positions: Towards an Institutional Analysis.  Gender, Work & Organization 21(1), 91–103.

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Fain, J. (2012). Breaking the Glass Ceiling. Contemporary Economic Policy, 29, 56-66.

Gooden, M., Dantley, M.  (2012).   Centering Race in a Framework for Leadership Preparation.  Journal of Research on Leadership Education.  7(2), 237-253.

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