Folks, as some of you already know, this week we published out "Nine Healthcare Bloggers Worth A Click" feature, which we're grateful to say has proven quite popular.
Popular, that is, other than with those who wrote to remind us that of the nine bloggers we named, not a single one was female. And as the person who compiled this list, I have to say mea culpa, despite being a bonafide female person myself. It's true--the blogs I happen to read, for some reason, all happen to be written by guys.
Obviously, by choosing nine bloggers strictly out of preference and leaving out thousands more, my sample is not going to be perfect, but I can say that I see my critics' point. The question is what to do about it.
So, readers, I thought I'd open things up to you, with some questions. Do you think women are underrepresented in FierceHealthcare generally, or just in this particular feature? Would you like to see more Q&As with women, more lists tracking, say, top women in a particular industry or professional specialties, or something else entirely?
Along the way--and I'd be interested to hear from both women and men on this--is healthcare a reasonably egalitarian work environment, or do men still hold the power positions to a large extent?
I'd personally argue that women are still behind when it comes to getting plum executive positions in the industry. For example, my observation is that men--specifically grey haired white men--are still the most predominant type of hospital CEO. If I had to make a wild guess, I'd say female CEOs of hospitals constitute only 10 to 15 percent of the overall U.S. hospital CEO base. But maybe things are different where you work.
In any event, this is a huge subject which is worth many a column. For now I'm just going to throw it back to you, and see where it takes us.
Women, you're obviously doing an incredible amount of challenging work and succeeding in institutions across the country (as well as doing some great blogging, of course), and you deserve every ounce of recognition you can get. How should we best get that across? Write to me and tell me what you think. - Anne