Report highlights medtech 'broken rung' on gender distribution
elemed, a medtech talent management agency, has released its Gender Distribution Report, shedding light on gender distribution within the medical device industry’s regulatory, quality and clinical workforce.
The report presents an analysis of gender distribution across functions, seniorities, and locations, highlighting a trend of more females than males in the workforce but, generally, more males are employed in leadership roles relative to the total workforce.
The Gender Distribution Report, which involved an in-depth examination of the medical device manufacturing industry’s workforce composition, offers valuable insights into the current state of gender representation within Europe and North America.
Key highlights from elemed’s Gender Distribution Report include:
1. Females in medtech more likely to receive promotion to first-time managerial roles
According to McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2023, only 87 females are promoted into managerial roles compared to every 100 men. In medtech, according to our research, it’s 96 females in Europe and 91 females in North America for every 100 men.
2. A new broken rung
The McKinsey report coins the phenomenon of females missing out on promotions to the first role as managers as ‘the broken rung’. The report shows that whilst this issue is less present within its researched segments, there is a general trend that more men are employed in senior leadership positions relative to the total workforce. This raises the question: is there a different broken rung higher up the career ladder relative to the total workforce?
3. Promising trends
Anecdotally, the conversation around gender distribution in medtech is that males represent the majority of the workforce. However, the report shows that this isn’t true; females are actually far better represented than might be expected. In regulatory affairs, 66.1% female of the workforce is female versus 33.9% male. In quality assurance, parity has been achieved with 50-50 split. In clinical, 57% of the workforce is female versus 43% male.
4. Similarities with AdvaMed’s Inclusion and Diversity presentation at the MedTech Conference 2023
According to AdvaMed’s Inclusion and Diversity presentation at the MedTech Conference 2023, whilst 56% of the US medtech workforce is composed of males, there are more females working in regulatory and clinical functions. This is reflected in this research.
AdvaMed’s Inclusion and Diversity presentation stated that disrupting the talent acquisition cycle is one of the key priorities for businesses looking to hire diverse talent.
Elena Kyria, CEO and founder of elemed, said: "Following conversations with a number of our clients, it became apparent that there was a need to provide some data behind the general “feeling” of there being more men than women at leadership levels in QA/RA/CL. We were pleasantly surprised to see that in fact the data reflects a more evenly distributed workforce than initially expected.”
Steve Lee, director of diagnostics regulation for ABHI, added: “Ensuring gender equality is not only the right thing to do, but the business case for a more diverse workforce has already been proven, with many tangible benefits for the employer, employee, economy, and wider society. It is therefore really pleasing to see in this latest research from elemed that healthtech regulatory is ahead of the gender distribution curve. However, as the report points out, there is still work to be done to achieve parity, and to make the workplace more inclusive. At ABHI, we remain committed to supporting healthtech companies to ensure that ours is a truly diverse and inclusive industry, and one fit to meet the needs of the people we serve.”
Jennifer Brearey, chief operating and financial officer, AdvaMed, executive director, AdvaMed Advance, commented: “AdvaMed is dedicated to fostering diversity and innovation in the medtech industry through AdvaMed Advance, which aims to unlock the full potential of all talent. We are pleased with elemed's report on progress in regulatory and clinical roles and will continue to promote diversity across all industry roles through our programs for members."