Christine Lagarde, ECB President, discusses barriers to women’s leadership in healthcare, legal progress, organizational challenges, and strategies to widen the leadership pipeline during the first Journée de réseaux de femmes en santé in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, spoke at the first Journée de réseaux de femmes dans la santé en Région Sud in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France, to mark the launch of Essenti’Elles Santé for Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
She highlighted historical symbols of women representing societal ideals and questioned why women are often excluded from leadership roles, especially in healthcare, a highly feminized sector where women are the majority of staff but underrepresented in senior positions.
Lagarde discussed legal advancements in France, including a 2023 reform increasing gender representation in senior civil service appointments from 40% to 50%. Despite progress, she noted a gap between legal rights and everyday experiences, with women facing barriers in promotion due to availability and promotability issues.
She explained that women often take on flexible roles due to unpaid care responsibilities, which can slow career progression, especially at critical promotion points. Additionally, women are more likely to be assigned low-visibility tasks, limiting their advancement.
Lagarde emphasized organizational measures to address these barriers, such as promoting flexible work arrangements, rotating low-visibility tasks, and setting targets for women’s representation at various levels. The ECB has implemented such strategies, resulting in women holding nearly 40% of senior management roles, up from previous levels.
She concluded by stressing the importance of networks like Essenti’Elles Santé to amplify women’s voices and advocate for organizational change. She called for organizations to measure commitment differently and distribute opportunities more equitably to prevent the pipeline from narrowing for women.
Lagarde referenced the symbolic statues of women in Aix-en-Provence, contrasting their high placement with the reality of limited power, and urged organizations to enact meaningful change to support women’s leadership.
