Women and men are different from each other but that is no reason for women to feel less capable of being part of the healthcare sector, said Maria Fernanda Tapia, a plastic surgeon from Bolivia and Operation Smile global surgery fellow.
During Operation Smile’s Leadership and Education in Cebu City that convened 60 all-women participants from 13 different countries, Tapia said that women have the capabilities to better care for patients, especially the vulnerable ones.
There are people, however, who still believe that women are less capable of playing a lead role in the health sector. Cultural stereotypes affect how they see women playing that role.
While men lead global health organizations, their teams at the medical schools and become the authorities in the health ministries of the world, “women are the ones who actually deliver the care,” Tapis underscored.
Women occupy 33 percent of all the leadership positions. They make up 70 percent of the healthcare workforce, but hold just 25 percent of the leadership or senior positions in health institutions.
Through the ‘Women in Medicine’ initiative, Operation Smile has had a huge opportunity to highlight and empower women not only as part of the healthcare workforce but to become leaders in their fields.
“Women gathering together and being on a mission and working together side by side is a really powerful moment for all of us,” she said.
Those who participated in their studies said they would prefer women to be their healthcare providers, and that women to be part of the work in healthcare. There was also an increased preference for women to be healthcare providers as they are considered better communicators.
Participants said they would become part of the healthcare sector after the mission, even encouraging their female family members to become part of the sector.
Some surveys among providers likewise showed women felt more encouraged to be mentors and establish important relations, relationships, and contacts with other professionals.
What Operation Smile hopes to achieve by 2030 is to educate women in high-need countries in advanced medical practices, and empower marginalized women to become leaders, and expand their opportunities in the field.
“With these, we aim to elevate cleft care in low- and middle-income countries for all,” she said.
The reason Operation Smile was here in the Philippines was because of the culture. Co-founded by New Jersey native Kathy Magee together with her husband Bill, they both jumped islands, landed in Naga, Camarines Sur, and went to a hospital with 300 children with cleft lip and cleft palates standing with all their families.
Magee recalled that their team had to face that room. “We were literally in tears. And I just want to tell you: they were very patient, very kind, and did not push us… We did what we could that time.”
As they were leaving, a mother came up to them with a basket of ripened bananas saying that was all they had to give to the team for trying to take care of her child. At that moment, the volunteer-based nonprofit organization realized the depth of their purpose and the passion that it demands.
Speaking before the all-women volunteers from 13 different countries, “we are depending on you to really make that change; to get more young people involved in the future.”
When making their goals, “we have to be really focused,” Magee noted, so that more people will be trained to provide the healthcare they need.
Today, the organization aims to launch a couple of things: a trove of love and leadership, a million patients, and a push for champions.
