It’s Time for the Life Sciences Industry to Accelerate Action for Gender Equality

Vicky Marriott, Head of Statistics at Phastar

As we marked International Women’s Day on March 8, we all need to join the call to accelerate action for equality for women in data.

At the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158 to reach full gender parity based on a global measure of opportunity, education, health and empowerment. That is 134 years or roughly five generations.¹ In STEM, things look slightly brighter, but we still do not expect to see equal representation until 2070.²

As an industry, we need to take swift and decisive action to achieve gender equality, with a focus on pay and representation across all seniority levels. We need to acknowledge and address the systemic barriers and biases that women in STEM face and accelerate action to speed up progress.

At a time when we are facing critical skills gaps, there is not only an ethical but a business imperative to act. Contract research organizations (CROs) need to invest in training, recruitment, and retention strategies to ensure we can meet the demands of an increasingly complex and technology-driven industry.

Over 56% of our data experts are women brings diverse perspectives and innovative problem-solving approaches to clinical research solutions. This diversity drives creativity and enhances collaboration, leading to more effective, well-rounded strategies. This means a more inclusive, thoughtful approach to data analysis, ultimately delivering more accurate insights and better outcomes for clinical trials. Diversity in teams can strengthen the ability to understand and address the unique needs of diverse patient populations, improving the quality and impact of the therapies brought to market.

There is no one solution to achieving gender parity across the industry but, in this blog, we discuss strategies to accelerate action for the benefit of all.

Tackling early barriers

Men account for 68% of students enrolled in STEM programs at university level worldwide.³ However, encouraging more women to enroll in the STEM degrees is only part of the solution.

Research has shown increasing the number of women enrolling in STEM university classes by 1%—around 300,000 women—would only lead to about 15,000 more women entering tech roles until 2027⁴. Instead, researchers say we need to support women already enrolled in STEM programs. The same analysis showed that better internship opportunities, mentoring and actively recruiting women to leadership roles and cutting-edge projects could increase overall numbers of women in tech by between 225,000 and 695,000.

Retaining talent

Once women have been recruited into our industry, it is vital we retain them. Half of women in data and tech will leave the industry by the midpoint in their career.⁵ Sixty-six percent of women in tech feel they lack a defined career advancement route.⁶

To overcome these issues, companies must acknowledge and address the common pain points and needs of women. This includes reducing isolation by creating broader support networks and effective sponsorship. Research has shown women with a sponsor or advocate are 70% more likely to have their ideas endorsed, 119% more likely to see them developed and 200% more likely to see them implemented.⁷

Creating supportive HR policies and increasing flexibility at work can also have a huge impact. Women are more likely to make career sacrifices to meet caring responsibilities.⁸ Options including compressed working hours, flexible working provisions and supportive family-leave can all increase employee satisfaction and retention. Even small changes, like not scheduling meetings at school drop-off and pick-up times, can make a big difference.

Ensuring representation at the C-Suite level

Women hold around 25% of senior leadership and board roles.⁹ While the pharmaceutical industry is slightly higher than this average, women are still significantly underrepresented in C-suite and board positions. In 2021, women leaders represented 28% of pharma executive teams and 35% of biotech executive teams.¹⁰ However, not all executives have equal power; line roles are those in control of money, people and production, whilst staff roles include support and service roles such as HR. The same analysis revealed white men held most line roles in both pharma and biotech companies—64% and 68% respectively.

Tackling early barriers and retaining talent should help to address this disparity—if we can encourage more women to join and stay in our industry, they are more likely to reach senior management positions.

However, we also need to ensure we are tackling the biases which can prevent women from reaching senior management positions. Analysis of executives’ biographies has suggested female executives are held to a higher standard than their male counterparts.¹¹ We need to ensure we address unconscious biases and integrate diversity, equity and, inclusion practices into business.

Conclusion

Accelerating action for gender equality is vital for the continued success of our industry. We cannot afford to lose a significant proportion of talented individuals to other industries, and we are facing an increasing skills gap.

Working together to address inequality will allow us to more effectively seize the opportunities offered by new technologies and create better working environments for all.

We call on the wider pharmaceutical and data industry, as well as CROs, to accelerate action for gender equality—not just on International Women’s Day, but all year round. By working collaboratively, we can overcome barriers to inclusion and make the life sciences industry more effective, collaborative, and diverse for the benefit of all.

Vicky Marriott, Head of Statistics at Phastar

References

1. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/06/global-gender-gap-2024-what-to-know/
2. https://womenindata.co.uk/pathways-into-data-women-in-data-initiatives-for-gender-parity/
3. https://stem4alleurasia.org/gender-in-stem/gender-barriers-in-education
4. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/women-in-tech-the-best-bet-to-solve-europes-talent-shortage
5. https://womenindata.co.uk/stuck-on-the-bottom-rung-why-women-are-still-falling-behind-in-data-and-tech-leadership/
6. https://www.womentech.net/women-in-tech-stats
7. https://coqual.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/23_athenafactor2point0_keyfindings-1.pdf
8. https://coqual.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/23_athenafactor2point0_keyfindings-1.pdf
9. https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/special-editorial/women-in-leadership-what-s-the-holdup
10. https://www.pharmexec.com/view/women-and-diversity-in-industry-c-suites-new-scorecards-tell-the-story
11. https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/news-insights/research/changepays-there-were-more-male-ceos-named-john-than-female-ceos