NEWSLINE
B Y JOSEPH GOEDERT
A Call to HIM Women:
Fight for Gender Diversity
“If you want to be at the head of the table, you have to be sitting there first.” That’s the message for gender diversity that Merida Johns, president at the Monarch Center
for Women’s Leadership Development, brought
to the American Health Information Management Association’s annual conference,
where 92 percent of AHIMA
members are women.
Women are at least 50
percent of the nation’s work-
force, and 77 percent in health
care and education. They control
73 percent of household spending—$4.4 trillion in discretionary spending each year. “But a disproportionate number
systematically fair to reach middle or senior levels, let alone
the C-suite,” Johns, a 40-year HIM professional, told a packed session hall with a smattering of men.
There’s been no progress in closing the wage gap since 2001, she
asserted. Women on average earn 78 cents for each dollar earned
by a male in the same job—58 cents for professional women, as the
gap increases as they rise in the ranks. Other stats: 46 percent of all
employees in Fortune 500 companies are women. Yet only 14. 4 percent are executive officers, about 15. 7 percent serve on the board,
7. 6 percent are top earning executives and 2. 4 percent are CEOs.
Less than 15 percent of hospital CEOs are women.
The inequity continues despite multiple studies over 15 years
that show companies that best pro-
mote women “outstrip other companies
on every measure of profitability,” Johns
asserted. There are many reasons for
the discrepancies and women share the
blame, she noted. They have lower career
confidence and set ambitions lower, lack
clarity in those ambitions, have a cautious ap-
proach to applying for positions, and are reluc-
tant to promote themselves. “When women get a
compliment, think of how you respond, ‘Oh, it was nothing.’”
A free Web site at the University of Pennsylvania,
www.authentichappiness.com, can help women and men develop
an inventory of character strengths, estab-
lish a vision and purpose, develop career
clarity, and develop “audacious goals,”
Johns advised. She also walked through the LEADS Model that her
organization uses to aid women in career advancement. The model
covers leveraging strengths, enhancing confidence, massing social
capital, developing your personal brand and seeking opportunities.
Johns recalled a former assistant who later was an aide to a health
care CIO. He asked what her ambition was and she said, “I want
your job.” The CIO mentored her for 1-1/2 years until he was recruit-
ed by another organization. He didn’t want the position but told the
organization he had the perfect candidate, and the aide today is CIO
at a large delivery system. “Put up the goals and you’ll be surprised
at the opportunities that start coming up.”
