Gender equity — Addressing the elephant in the room in Pakistan

As we approach 2020, are we in a strong position where men and women have near to equal representation and opportunities in the workplace and are equally, or near enough equally, represented in leadership positions?

Alas! Women, account for 70% of the global workforce but hold only 25% of senior roles and are typically clustered into lower status/lower paid jobs.(1)

The pharmacy workforce is predominantly female and the proportion of women is set to reach around 72% by 2030.2 This mirrors the proportion of women in the wider health workforce. However, most women are still not able to reach their full potential and not enough opportunities are offered to enable them to do so.

International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) workforce data show that women comprise the majority of the global pharmaceutical workforce, with year-on-year increases. Promoting equity in the pharmacy workforce is needed to exploit women’s roles to deliver better medicines-related health for all.(2)

FIP’s Pharmaceutical Workforce Development Goal 10 (WDG10) calls for all countries to have clear strategies for addressing gender and diversity inequalities in the pharmaceutical workforce, continued education and training, and career progression opportunities.(3)

To add fuel to the fire, the “Delivered by women, led by men” report highlights major gaps in data and research from low- and middle-income countries on gender and equity dimensions in the health workforce as well as major gaps in implementation research on the impact of policy change.(1)

The pharmacy workforce landscape in Pakistan reflects the FIP workforce data, a fact that regularly concerned me during my official trips to academic institutions and pharmacy chains there. I often only met with and liaised with the male leaders within the profession. Photo opportunities were uncomfortable, having me as the only woman present. All this prompted me to address, finally, the elephant in the room and ask at one such meeting: “Where are the women?”

This then sparked discussions and highlighted the dire need for a collective to support and promote women pharmacists in Pakistan.

I decided to approach the professional body for pharmacists in Pakistan — The Pakistan Pharmacists Association (PPA) — to propose an alliance for women in pharmacy. After much discussion regarding the feasibility and practicalities, the National Alliance for Women in Pharmacy (NAWP) was born, for which I was given the honour of being the founder and patron-in-chief.

We held our launch in Lahore, Pakistan, in April 2019 at the PPA headquarters with over 120 women pharmacists in attendance. A first for Pakistan! During our launch, we agreed our vision and objectives and appointed our executive committee, who are responsible for driving NAWP’s objectives forward.

Vision: To support, enable and recognise women pharmacists in the workplace and to provide a supportive environment and mentorship for the advancement of women leaders.

Objectives:

We at NAWP are pleased to have collaborated with FIP and to have aligned our strategy with FIP’s EquityRx agenda, making Pakistan a pathfinder for WDG10 that can lead the way for other countries. We will be holding our first conference in October, at which the first ever awards ceremony recognising women pharmacists in Pakistan will be launched.

The work has only just begun.