Nurses Learning to be Powerful Leaders: What Will It Take?

Area of Science:

• Health Policy and Leadership
• Nursing Studies
• Gender Studies in Healthcare

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted nurses' critical roles, yet they remained largely absent from expert commentary and policy discussions.
• The World Health Organization's 2020 and 2021 reports emphasize global nursing shortages and advocate for increased nurse leadership in health policy.
• Historical gendered perceptions of nursing as a subordinate occupation persist, hindering nurses' advancement into leadership positions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the challenges preventing nurses from achieving leadership roles within health systems.
• To propose a gender-focused analytical framework to dismantle barriers for women nurses in leadership.
• To advocate for disrupting the status quo to enable transformative change in health system leadership.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis of the historical and societal factors influencing nursing leadership.
• Application of a gender-focused lens to examine power dynamics in healthcare leadership.
• Exploration of strategies to challenge existing norms and promote nurse leaders.

Main Results:

• Identified persistent gender-based occupational legacies as a significant impediment to nurse leadership.
• Demonstrated the need for a specific analytical framework to address these gendered challenges.
• Highlighted the necessity of systemic disruption to foster genuine leadership opportunities for nurses.

Conclusions:

• Overcoming gendered barriers is essential for nurses to attain visible leadership roles in health policy.
• A gender-focused framework can guide efforts to promote women nurses into powerful leadership positions.
• Radical and sustainable change in health systems requires challenging the status quo of leadership and nursing.