This year, Rock Health surveyed individuals working at healthcare startups and VCs to understand how they perceive initiatives at their organizations to promote the advancement of women, and offer concrete solutions for leaders to actively advance gender equity. Despite significant disparities in healthcare leadership today, industry leaders and employees share a belief that gender parity can be achieved within our lifetime.
This research initiative was led by Claire Liu, Megan Zweig and Natalie Yu.
Key Insights
- We are far from gender parity—but people have high expectations for progress. Despite significant disparities today, industry leaders and employees share a belief that gender parity can be achieved within our lifetime.
- The most common initiatives to promote gender equity may not be the most effective. We asked employees at healthcare startups and VCs which initiatives they saw in place to promote gender equity, and which were the most effective. Most companies have some initiatives in place; however, gaps exist. The most commonly-implemented initiatives are not aligned with what respondents report are the most effective. This signals an opportunity for organizations to reassess and align their culture and diversity initiatives with what employees find most impactful.
- There’s a (perceived) commitment gap between individuals and organizations. Individuals self-report higher levels of commitment to gender equity than the leadership commitment they perceive at their own organizations. Section Three explores why organizations are perceived to be less committed than the people who comprise those organizations.
