NAVIGATING THE LABYRINTH: GENDER AND LEADERSHIP IN PHYSIOTHERAPY

Abstract

Most physiotherapy practitioners are female but there is still a wide disparity among men and women in terms of holding leadership roles in clinical administration. In this chapter, we will be discussing the ways in which gender influences leadership in clinics and rehabilitation settings by outlining systemic, cultural and organizational obstacles that create barriers for women to move up into executive-level positions (e.g. Director of Rehabilitation, Chief Medical Officer, President of Healthcare Network), and we will explore how women experience barriers differently in a variety of forms, including implicit bias, balancing work/life obligations, and "glass cliffs." We will also review criticisms of limited views regarding the leadership styles of women through a binary framework of transformative/transactional. Finally, we recognize that when using an intersectionality-based view, women of color face additional compounded barriers to achieving success in their careers than do white women. By the end of this chapter, we provide practical policy suggestions for health care policymakers and medical organizations as to how to remedy the systemic inequalities preventing gender equity in clinical environments.