Women in Leadership: Women's Health

As you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Breast cancer accounts for as many as 1 in 8 cancer cases, with 2.3 million new cases globally every year (WHO, 2024 ).

Given that #TeamTuesdays has been exploring women's career and leadership journeys, I thought it would be fitting to spend some time discussing specific aspects impacting women's health, and how the state of women's health impacts all of our work and lives. In a continuing theme of our last few posts, the ultimate message is this: when we invest in the success and wellness of women in the workplace and around the world, we all benefit!

Women's Health Impacts Everyone's Health

The Boston University School of Public Health published this great piece called Paid Sick Leave is a Women's Health Issue . Written by Cecille Joan Avila , this article takes a fantastic, in-depth look into how providing comprehensive paid leave allows all people to take advantage of preventative care services, which then results in better overall health outcomes (e.g., better health overall for new parents, decreased infant mortality, better financial security for caregivers, according to Kaiser Family Foundation / KFF ). This can include getting screenings for illnesses that could be easier to treat when caught early, much like breast cancer.

However, these benefits are not always available to people earlier in their career, those who have a lower socioeconomic status, or those who do part-time or seasonal work. And, just like with any systematic problems, there is a compounding effect. This further impacts disenfranchised minorities.

And this includes women.

Women are often primary caregivers to their loved ones and are thus responsible not only for their own health, but for the health of their families. You can see this compounding negative effect for women specifically: even though women make up approximately half of the workforce, women are still less likely to have access to paid leave (KFF, 2021 ). This leads to another way in which a lack of paid leave contributes to a cycle of setting women up for failure. Without paid sick leave, women miss out on the positive health outcomes noted above for themselves, and they face the impossible choice between going to work and giving care to themselves and others. When women choose to focus on care, they are forced out of the labor market; they lose jobs or work opportunities, which makes it impossible to contribute to their companies or work environments, as well as impossible to grow or move forward in their own careers and experience.

To see how all of these aspects impact one another, let's take a look at Rosenberg et al.'s (2019) study, Employment Trends in Young Women Following a Breast Cancer Diagnosis . Younger women, who are earlier in their careers, usually require more aggressive treatment upon being diagnosed for breast cancer. Rosenberg and team sought to find how this impacted their employment and careers. One positive finding here is that most women in the studied cohort retained or acquired employment between diagnosis and one year after diagnosis. However, out of the women who transitioned out of the workforce, half reported doing so due to health reasons. Further, those who self-reported being financially stressed at diagnosis were more likely to report issues in the workplace later, like having a lack of support or accommodations due to their health issues. This shows how lack of support does everyone a disservice, but especially impacts the most vulnerable.

In addition to the physical ramifications of lack of support, women's mental health is taking a huge toll. SHRM 's recent article, titled Women are Experiencing a Mental Health Crisis / What That Means for Employers , shows how taking on the brunt of caregiving, on top of taking on all of the current environmental stressors in our society, politics, economy, environment, and technology, is contributing to this mental health crisis.

Women's Health Impacts the Economy

The Center for American Progress shared how providing comprehensive paid leave can uplift this part of the workforce, while also providing broad-reaching economic benefit.

Check out their piece, titled Guaranteeing Comprehensive, Inclusive Paid Family and Medical Leave and Sick Time, for some projections for the US. For instance, did you know that women who have access to paid leave as new parents actually work more hours, not only after giving birth, but for years to come? Also, paid leave helps people who are experiencing serious illnesses, like cancer, to stay in the workforce rather than being forced out for unplanned leave or early retirement as a result of those illnesses. The CAP estimates that supporting paid leave could mean that 6 million more caregivers (3.7 million of whom are women) would be able to remain in the labor force.

SHRM also reports that by providing support for health issues, as well as encouraging employees to take advantage of the benefits that they do get (e.g., vacation time, personal time), companies see increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, and reduced brain drain from people leaving their companies.

Women's Health Impacts the World

Our #TeamTuesdays articles on Women in Leadership have explored the benefits of investing in women's growth in the workforce, including some personal stories of how women leaders have experienced these shifts and changes in their own careers. This post thus far talks about how this impacts systems in general, with a focus on the US.

But these benefits are truly global.

In their piece, Prioritizing the Health of Female Employees is a Strategic Imperative , the World Economic Forum highlights that the combination of the increase of stress, plus the lack of support, have significantly impacted the women in workforces in France, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea.

The piece also echoes much of what we've learned about what we can do to help make things better for women. The top 4 ways to positively support women -- and therefore, everyone -- in the workplace are to 1) increase support for caregivers, 2) reduce microaggressions, 3) increase flexibility at work, and 4) provide tailored support for women.

And, to honor October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, WHO holds these main objectives in promoting advocacy and support for those who are affected: 1) Raise awareness and drive behavior change, 2) Facilitate knowledge sharing and partnerships, 3) Support national adoption of WHO'S The Global Breast Cancer Initiative, and 5) Promote patient support and address disparities. Check out more about their objectives here!

Reflection

I have people in my life who are breast cancer survivors. With its prevalence in society, I'm sure you do as well. And I think about these issues as I explore what it means to be a woman, and a leader. I'm hoping this article was useful as a moment to reflect on the kinds of challenges we all face, and how we can be a force of good in our work environments in order to make positive changes for us all!

How can we advocate for women at work, from supporting them in their physical and mental health journeys, to reducing economic disparities? What else should we keep at the forefront of our minds when intentionally uplifting women? What other causes do you keep close to your heart, and how can we help support them? Please share here, and keep a look out for more #TeamTuesdays on topics that help advocate for positive and supportive environments for us all!