New Report Reveals Progress and Challenges for Women in Australia’s Digital Health Workforce 

Commenting on the report, Kerryn Butler-Henderson, RMIT said “When we look at the data from the past three censuses over the last five years, we see a growing pattern across the workforce. The more traditional roles that were once paper focused, such as health librarians and clinical coders, are held by older women, whereas the roles that have emerged over the past two decades, such as informatics, technology, and data science roles, are predominantly held by younger men. This is a concerning trend seen in other fields that we need to change today.”

Kathleen Gray, The University of Melbourne said “Improving gender equity in the digital health workforce can have an important impact on person-centred care. There is a documented digital health gender gap producing inequitable and suboptimal experiences for women in their roles as patients and carers: digital health tools may not address their needs; digital access to personal health data may make them vulnerable; health app designs and decision-support algorithms may be biased against them (Figueroa et al. 2021). Elevating the status of women in digital health management, investment, research and innovation roles can bring greater sensitivity to these issues. However, achieving this workforce reform has to build on a broad base of women with secure work in specialist digital health roles. The census data can help to assess, target and overcome obstacles to women’s representation in the digital health workforce.”

Anja Nikolic, CEO AIDH “While we celebrate the strides made in increasing women’s representation and experience in digital health, it is unfortunately not surprising to see gender disparity in leadership and remuneration in a female dominated workforce. The 2024 report underscores the urgent need to address persistent issues such as gender pay equity and the underrepresentation of women in senior roles. This also extends to all kind of diversity, not just gender. A diverse DH workforce representative of the population will be better placed to ensure our DH systems are inclusive and guarantee the best health outcomes for everyone. At AIDH, we are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where women can thrive and lead, ensuring that our digital health workforce is as diverse and dynamic as the communities we serve through initiatives like Women in Digital Health Management (WIDM).”

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