A “Brave Space” for Female Family Doctors Worldwide to Grow Leadership Skills
A new global initiative is helping female family doctors to grow their leadership skills, paving the way for stronger, more inclusive health-care systems worldwide.
Almost half of all doctors in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries are female. This shift, growing over the past two decades, marks a dramatic change in the physician workforce, but one that is highly variable depending on the country and medical specialism.
“In countries such as Latvia and Estonia, almost three-quarters of doctors are female, compared to approximately one-quarter in Japan and Korea,” says Dr. Meseret Zerihun, a family doctor, assistant professor at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, and former program director of Ethiopia’s first family medicine residency program—a role she stepped into soon after graduating.
“In all contexts, female doctors tend to work more in general medicine and medical specialties like family medicine and pediatrics, and less in surgical fields.”
In Canada, 45 per cent of all physicians are women, with a 50-50 split in family medicine and younger physicians more likely to be female.
While women make up an increasing percentage of the health workforce, the World Health Organization estimates that women hold only 25 per cent of leadership roles.
“We know that women are leading in family medicine work—in clinical spaces but also academic, teaching and leadership spaces. We also know that globally they may be underrepresented in formal leadership roles,” says Dr. Praseedha Janakiram, a family doctor at the Crossroads Clinic at Women’s College Hospital and director of Global Health Education in the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM).
In response to this gap, Dr. Janakiram and Dr. Thuy-Nga (Tia) Pham convened an international steering committee to create the Advancing Women’s Excellence in Family Medicine (AWE-FM) course.
Launched in 2023, the team’s mission is to advance leadership development among women emerging into family medicine leadership roles across academic and hospital settings globally. An early needs assessment revealed 70 per cent of potential participants had not taken part in leadership training in the past five years.
“We heard from many of our international colleagues that there weren’t enough opportunities to strengthen the leadership skills they needed,” says Dr. Pham, a family doctor now practising in British Columbia and an associate professor at DFCM. “We created this course as a safe space and a brave space for women to explore the core business and challenges of leadership together.”
The virtual course focuses on masterclasses, experience sharing and coaching in areas including negotiations, conflict management, executive presence and powerful presentations.
Dr. Roshni Jhan, a family physician working in Bangalore, India, was part of the first cohort.
“I had never had any formal leadership training,” says Dr. Jhan, who runs a chain of family medicine clinics, holds free health camps for those unable to access regular primary care, and was instrumental in bringing the family medicine Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (International) exam to India.
“This course is an incredible opportunity to learn from and with impressive female leaders. It helps you analyze every aspect of leadership and how you would implement it in your setting. Learning to elevator pitch your work and manage conflict were particularly useful.”
After a successful pilot, the sold-out 2024 course brought together 27 participants from 15 countries. Together, participants explored what it means to be a value-based leader while addressing the barriers women face in traditional leadership roles.
“The course is a unique opportunity to share common experiences, discover what is different, and consider how our cultures and the culture of family medicine coexist. It helps us reflect on what effective leadership looks like in each of those settings,” says Dr. Janakiram.
“We all bring so many overlapping roles to our work. For me, what does it mean to be a Sri Lankan woman, a female family doctor, a mother and single parent? How do those factors impact you as an early-career or aspiring leader? I cannot emphasize enough how having this community of family medicine leaders to share struggles and successes with, alongside mentorship and peer support, has influenced my personal journey.”
Number of DFCM faculty at Women’s College Hospital: 111
Originally published in the 2024-2025 Family Medicine Report. Read the full report