TY - JOUR
T1 - Barriers and opportunities to advancing women in leadership roles in vector control
T2 - Perspectives from a stakeholder survey
AU - Hayden, Mary H.
AU - Barrett, Erika
AU - Bernard, Guyah
AU - Toko, Eunice N.
AU - Agawo, Maurice
AU - Okello, Amanda M.
AU - Gunn, Jayleen K.L.
AU - Ernst, Kacey C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Financial support: We would like to thank the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for providing the funding for this research and Emily Zielinski-Gutierrez for reviewing the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2018 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Increasing the active participation of professional women in vector control (VC) activities may help promote greater gender equity in the workplace and reduce the burden of vector-borne diseases. This stakeholder survey examined the current roles and perspective of professionals employed in the VC sector in Kenya, Indonesia, India, and other countries. The largest barriers that women face in pursuing leadership roles in the VC sector include lack of awareness of career opportunities, limitations based on cultural norms, and the belief that VC is men’s work. These barriers could be addressed through improving education and recruitment campaigns, as well as supporting higher education and mentoring programs. Females were almost six times more likely to be encouraged to pursue leadership positions in their organization compared with male respondents (odds ratio = 5.9, P > 0.03, 95% confidence interval: 1.19, 29.42). These findings suggest that once women are recruited into the VC workforce, they face minimal discrimination and have increased leadership opportunities.
AB - Increasing the active participation of professional women in vector control (VC) activities may help promote greater gender equity in the workplace and reduce the burden of vector-borne diseases. This stakeholder survey examined the current roles and perspective of professionals employed in the VC sector in Kenya, Indonesia, India, and other countries. The largest barriers that women face in pursuing leadership roles in the VC sector include lack of awareness of career opportunities, limitations based on cultural norms, and the belief that VC is men’s work. These barriers could be addressed through improving education and recruitment campaigns, as well as supporting higher education and mentoring programs. Females were almost six times more likely to be encouraged to pursue leadership positions in their organization compared with male respondents (odds ratio = 5.9, P > 0.03, 95% confidence interval: 1.19, 29.42). These findings suggest that once women are recruited into the VC workforce, they face minimal discrimination and have increased leadership opportunities.
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U2 - 10.4269/ajtmh.17-0693
DO - 10.4269/ajtmh.17-0693
M3 - Article
C2 - 29557326
AN - SCOPUS:85046897103
SN - 0002-9637
VL - 98
SP - 1224
EP - 1227
JO - American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
JF - American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
IS - 5
ER -