The field of oncology in India faces a stark gender imbalance, with a Lancet report highlighting that only one of the four major oncology societies has ever had a woman president, underlining male dominance in leadership. Similarly, in authorship roles, only 26% of 558 publications in two of the leading oncology journals of the country had women as lead authors.
As per the report titled ‘Women, power, and cancer: a Lancet Commission 2023’, gender inequality and discrimination exist in the field of oncology and prevents women from advancing as leaders in cancer research, service delivery, and policymaking.
Citing the 3rd Indian Cancer Congress held in November 2023 at Mumbai, the report said the women were clearly under-represented both as speakers and as moderators in panel discussions which are traditionally considered as important roles of senior leadership.
“Of the 1080 speakers in the Indian Cancer Congress, we found that only 24% were women,” the report revealed.
While enrolment of women in medical colleges in India has seen a progressive increase after independence and women outnumber men in many medical colleges today, the number of women who complete a postgraduate degree is only one-third that of men. The reason is family commitments, child rearing responsibilities and long working hours.
“Furthermore, in academic institutions, women reaching ranks of Professor and Associate Professor are lower than their male counterparts,” Lancet pointed out.
“Empowering women oncologists is a challenging task requiring collective efforts at an individual level, institutional and societal levels. We suggest some possible solutions to address this ongoing problem,” the report added.
Institutions, the Lancet emphasized, should support women by offering maternity leave, mothers' rooms for breastfeeding, crèche services, a safe working environment, and flexible work hours to help them remain in the workforce. The report highlighted that while the government sector assures 6 months of maternity leave in India, such leaves were not uniformly granted in private sector.
“Such human resource (HR) policies should be enforced uniformly in the country to support career growth of young women oncologists,” Lancet said. “Also, oncology institutes should encourage women-majority teams and women-led teams.”
Women oncologists, the journal reported, do not rise in their career ladder easily because of an invisible ceiling of not having a good network.
“Women leaders should make it a point to pull along and empower suitable younger women to leadership roles,” the report said.
Citing example of European Society for Medical Oncology Women for Oncology as an excellent example to promote the career progress of women oncologists and to promote both gender equality and equity, the report called for forming associations by and for women to achieve their true potential and get the right opportunities to work.
“There exists a lack of mentorship programmes in India,” the report said. “A mentor helps boost a woman oncologist's confidence and helps her carve her future and gives immunity against ‘the glass cliff phenomenon’—the risk of failure in leadership roles.”
Also read: FACT CHECK: Can cancer be treated without chemotherapy - First Check
Do you have a health-related claim that you would like us to fact-check? Send it to us, and we will fact-check it for you! You can send it on WhatsApp at +91-9311223141, mail us at hello@firstcheck.in, or click here to submit it online.
Subscribe to our newsletter to get expert insights on health misinformation, updates about global trends, and inspiring initiatives to combat this public health challenge.