Women spend 25% more of their lives in ill health than men, leading to a ‘health gap’ - they live longer but in ill health and disability.

More than half of the health gap for women occurs in their working years: ages 15 – 50. [1]

This gender differential is reflected in multiple research studies. Most recently, the Cigna Healthcare International Health Study 2024 [2] reported that men have higher vitality (where vitality is defined by high perceived autonomy and competence across all health), at 67.9%, than women, at 64.7%. Women also face higher stress levels, which translates to different behaviors:
 

• 20% of women report they delayed getting medical attention vs 18% of men;
• 17% of women report delaying counseling or therapy services versus 12% of their male counterparts.

This mirrors the McKinsey 2022 Women in the Workplace [3] report, which indicated that women experience burnout symptoms at higher rates than men. 42% percent of women report feeling burned out in that report, double what it was the year before. More recent studies by Deloitte [4] have highlighted the same trend.

The toll of professional work on health impacts women disproportionately to men. In order to drive retention, it is important for employers to consider female-centric health and performance policies, which would ultimately have a positive impact on all demographic groups.

What are the Strategic Drivers and Actions for Corporations?

1. Driving Long-term Corporate Sustainability
The role of women’s health is not a ‘nice to have’. The United Nations has clearly defined the need for health inclusion based on gender equity. Gender equity is defined as the “fairness and justice in the distribution of benefits, power, resources, and responsibilities between women and men. The concept recognizes that women and men have different needs, power, and access to resources and that these differences should be identified and addressed in a manner that rectifies the imbalance between the sexes”.

The WHO, thus, recognizes that there is an imbalance in health equity between the genders. Taking these areas of focus, it is possible to link clear health metrics to demonstrate commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3).

2. Linking Health Metrics to Environmental Social and Governance Standards
The focus on employee health and performance is reflective of what is going on outside of corporations, where there is an expectation for companies to be seen to be socially responsible, as well as for employee retention across the talent pipeline, from Gen Z to senior female leaders.

Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) standards are putting pressure on organizations to take employee health (and well-being) seriously. Workplace conditions need to reflect a high regard for employees’ health and safety with immense efforts placed on women’s health equity.

In fact, with SDG3, ‘Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages [5]’, it is possible to also link corporate policies to the SDGs, thus complying with the crucial ESG standards. Why? SDG3 puts the onus on employers: ‘At a minimum, businesses have a responsibility to respect all human rights, including the right to health’. As such, there is an expectation that companies should raise awareness and increase access to targeted health services for women and their families.

What Can Employers Do?

With 47% of women’s health burdens reflecting conditions that affect women disproportionately, e.g., depression, autoimmune conditions, and migraines [6], a multi-pronged approach to health and performance is needed.

Strategy 1: Drive Awareness and Education
With women’s health transitions from the ages of 16 to 60 substantially influenced due to hormonal fluctuations, awareness of these changes, their implications, and how they can be managed are critical.

However, with 80% of autoimmune condition sufferers being female, women’s health should be given a wider focus and deep dive into the 4 Ms of Health:
 

• Metabolic Wellness: E.g., insulin resistance and diabetes 2
• Mental Wellness: E.g., stress, depression, dementia and Alzheimer’s
• Maternity and Reproductive Health: E.g., infertility
• Hormonal and Menstrual Wellness: E.g., perimenopause/menopause

Strategy 2: Measure Change
As the saying goes, what gets measured, gets done. Health metrics can be clearly measured – what is missing is the lack of understanding of how this is possible, as well as the knowledge of what to measure. Employers can encourage their female employees to take their health into their own hands, demystify the important dimensions and measure the critical indicators that drive those.

A simple example is diabetes – women are prone, as they go through motherhood and also in their perimenopausal phases, to suffer from increased insulin resistance (the precursor to diabetes). The ability to measure fasting insulin through simple bloodwork and then support it with lifestyle changes can reverse the increasing incidence of what is a silent epidemic.

Strategy 3: Instill Health-centred Policies
Menopausal leave is now a new popular policy that corporations in various parts of the world are taking on. However, women’s health ailments are more than just that life stage.

Some examples of policies that can shift the dial include:
 

• Health Days: Allow employees to take time to visit their doctors (or take it as a day to recover from conditions that may be taboo and affect women more, e.g., endometriosis). It is the taboo nature of women’s health that often leads women to NOT seek to see medical practitioners.


• Provide Health Coaching Programmes: How emotions and hormones can be impacted by the microbiome (the friendly bacteria in the gut) and how they, in turn, impact mental health and performance are some of the key areas that professional women can benefit from as part of long-term health coaching. This is a benefit that underlines long-term awareness and drives accountability.


• Highlight Health Transformation Days/Activities: Employees should be encouraged to share positive, transformative health experiences to enable dialogue and openness on what are often seen as taboo subjects.

Strategy 4: Instill a Culture of Health (and Performance)
Health is not a women’s issue. It is relevant for both genders. Today, there is pressure on the C-suite to not only be part of the employee health and performance conversation but they are expected to model effective health and performance management as well. Creating a Culture of Health must start from the top and be inclusive.

To achieve this, it is important to develop the internal capacity within corporations to measure and discuss health, which underlines performance for both genders. Encouraging employees to focus on their personal health dashboard (see Strategy 2 above) and fostering trust by instilling the ability to discuss health issues are some of the actions that could support change. It comes down to organizational culture to build trust and improve health and well-being for all.

Footnotes

Author Bio

Christina Ioannidis, CEO of Aquitude, is an award-winning international motivational speaker, MC, trainer, consultant, author, and health coach. Recognized as a transformation and performance coach, she has been working with professionals and athletes since 2007. She is also the founder of Top of Her Game, a platform dedicated to helping women achieve peak performance, and led the inaugural Top of Her Game Women’s Health Festival in Abu Dhabi in March 2023, the first of its kind in the UAE.

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