Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to map the barriers to women leadership across healthcare, academia and business, and identify barriers prevalence across sectors. A barriers thematic map, with quantitative logic, and a prevalence chart have been developed, with the aim to uncover inequalities and provide orientation to develop inclusion and equal opportunity strategies within different work environments. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review method was adopted across five electronic databases. Rigorous inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied to select relevant publications, followed by critical appraisal of the eligible articles. The geographical target was Europe, with a publication time range spanning the period from 2000 to 2015. Certain specialized international studies were also examined. The key themes were identified using summative content analysis and the findings were analyzed using qualitative meta-summary method to formulate hypotheses for subsequent research. Findings: In total, 26 barriers were identified across the aforementioned sectors. A high degree of barriers commonalities was identified, with some striking differences between the prevalence of barriers across sectors. Research limitations/implications: The results of this study may need further validation using statistical methodology given the knowledge base gaps regarding the range of barriers and the differences in their prevalence. Bias and interpretation in reporting anchored in different theoretical frameworks ought to be further examined. Additional variables such as ambiguously stated barriers, sector overlap, women’s own choices, cultural and educational background and analysis in the context of the economic crisis, ensuing austerity and migratory pressure, are also worth exploring. Practical implications: Women’s notable and persisting underrepresentation in top leading positions across sectors reflects a critical drawback in terms of organizational and societal progress particularly regarding inclusion and balanced decision making. Practice-related blind spots may need to be further examined and addressed through specific policies. Originality/value: The comparative nature of barriers to women leadership across three sectors allows the reader to contrast the differences in gender inequalities and to comprehend inclusion challenges in healthcare, academia and business. The authors draw attention to varying degrees of barriers prevalence that have been understudied and deserve to be further explored. This gap in knowledge extends to policy, thus, highlighting the need to address the gender equality and inclusion challenges in a context-specific manner across work environments.

Background: Gender inequalities have been identified as important derailment factors for health workforce and health system sustainability. Literature holds responsible a list of gendered barriers faced by female health workforce. However, there is a gap in the evidence based research on women leaders' own perceptions of barriers to leading positions advancement. This study aims to explore leadership barriers perceived by women healthcare leaders within country's context; research focused on Greece due to country's poor performance on gender equality index and current economic turbulence. Study supplements survey data and provides orientation for further gender sensitive research in health workforce development through country's specificity lens to better inform education and policy makers. Methods: The best-worst object case survey method was used, applying an online questionnaire designed in Qualtrics. The online questionnaire was sent to 30 purposively invited participants. Respondents were asked to tick the most and the least important barriers to women's leadership in provided choice scenarios. Descriptive data analysis was used to understand and interpret the results. Results: Women leaders perceived stereotypes, work/life balance, lack of equal career advancement, lack of confidence, gender gap and gender bias to be the barriers with the greatest relative importance in constraining opportunities for pursuing leading positions in Greek healthcare setting. Twenty more barriers were identified and ranked lower in relative importance. The results are considered exploratory and not to obtain population based outcomes. Conclusion: This exploratory study reports the perceived barriers of women leaders in pursuing leading positions within Greek healthcare context. The findings point mainly to organizational and socio-cultural related barriers potentially aggravated by country's unfortunate current economic turbulence. Further extensive research is required to establish grounded conclusions and better inform education and policy makers in developing gender sensitive strategies to sustainable health workforce development.

Female managers in the Polish health care system are seldom a subject of scientific investigation. This study describes the share and profile of women in health care management positions and explores how and why Polish female health care managers add value to the leadership of health care organizations. Three data collection methods were used including: scoping review, analysis of data from governmental information bases and in-depth interviews with female health care managers. Men comprise nearly twice the number of hospital directors in Poland as compared to women, or 67% of the total representation. Traits often attributed to women including strength, perseverance, multi-tasking, empathy, emotional intelligence and intuition add value in leadership roles. Polish women managers value the complementarity of genders in professional roles and their contribution to constructive collaboration. The study contributes to the scarce literature on Polish female health care managers.

To explore the experiences of midwives in Indonesia on the provision of maternal health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative descriptive study using focus group discussions was undertaken. A conventional content analysis was used to analyze the data. Coding categories were generated from the transcripts. Twenty-two midwives from five community health centers of three regions in the Province of Jambi, Indonesia were included. The interviewees shared similar barriers and facilitators in delivering the services, including the unavailability of adequate protective equipment, the limitation of the number of services, and dealing with the new public health measures related to the COVID-19. Overall, midwives demonstrated a continued commitment to provide maternal health services during the pandemic. Significant changes in service delivery have been made to comply with pandemic related restrictions. Despite the unprecedentedly difficult working environment, the midwives continue to provide adequate services to the community by implementing a strict health protocol. Findings from this study contribute to a better understanding of how the quality of the services changed, as well as how new challenges can be addressed and positive changes can be reinforced.

Background/Objective: The utilization of maternal health services at the primary healthcare level is still considered an effective approach despite the critical role in improving maternal health outcomes. The study aimed to assess the influence of sociodemographic characteristics and interpersonal support on the use of maternal health services in three regions of the Province of Jambi, Indonesia. Methods: Using a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design, a quantitative survey of 432 women and qualitative focus group discussions with nine families were conducted. Quantitative data were analyzed using bivariate analysis, while the qualitative data were examined through conventional content analysis. Results: The research results show no significant association between sociodemographic factors (education, employment, residence) and the use of maternal health services for antenatal care and delivery. Direct support, such as accompaniment by spouses, and indirect support, including emotional encouragement and shared knowledge, were pivotal in influencing women’s decisions to seek care. Conclusions: Targeted interventions focusing on improving social support, addressing service accessibility barriers, and raising awareness about the benefits of community health centers are essential to enhancing maternal health outcomes. Policymakers and healthcare providers should integrate family-centered strategies to ensure women receive adequate maternal healthcare.

The Maternal Mortality Ratio in Indonesia has remained high, making it a national priority. The low utilization of maternal health services at community health centers is considered to be one of the reasons for poor maternal health status. This study aims to assess the influence of sociodemographic factors on utilization of maternal health services. The analysis was completed using binary and logistic regression to examine the association between sociodemographic variables and maternal health services utilization. A total of 436 women participated in the survey. In the multivariable analysis, age, education, ethnicity, parity status, distance to health centers and insurance ownership were associated with the utilization of maternal health services. Ethnicity (OR, 2.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.4–3.3) and distance to the CHC (OR, 0.5; 95% confidence interval, 0.3–0.8) were significantly associated with ANC visits. The association between parity and place of delivery was statistically significant (OR, 0.8; 95% confidence interval, 0.5–1.4). A positive association between basic health insurance ownership and PNC services was reported (OR, 0.3; 95% confidence interval, 0.1–0.6). Several sociodemographic factors were positively associated with the utilization of maternal health services at the CHCs. The required measures to improve the utilization of maternal health services at the CHCs level have to take into consideration the sociodemographic factors of reproductive age women.