Women in healthcare leadership: assessment of experiences, challenges, and opportunities.

Background: Women play a vital role in the healthcare sector, but the level of their involvement in leadership and the related challenges are not well-understood in the Iraqi context. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate women's experiences in healthcare leadership and identify the challenges and opportunities to improve their leadership roles.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on a self-administered questionnaire survey conducted from July to December 2024 in Erbil, Iraq, on a random sample of 371 female healthcare staff members selected from healthcare settings. Women's viewpoints and experiences were measured based on Likert-scale questions.

Results: Of the 371 participants, 13.2% had received training on leadership and 27% had been in leadership positions, most as heads of hospital and primary healthcare center units (72.3%), and most evaluated this experience as positive (92.1%). Most of the study participants had experienced a woman as a leader in the workplace (84.6%) and positively evaluated this experience (45.3%), with 13.5% reporting a negative experience. More than half of the participants (58.5%) were ready to take leadership positions. Most participants (69.6%) perceived women as successful leaders, with 63.3% accepting women in leadership roles and 82.8% believing women possess sufficient self-confidence for leadership. Most participants considered offering daycare services for mothers (89.2%) and providing leadership training programs (78.2%) essential opportunities for women to take leadership positions. Postgraduate education [OR = 2.7 (95%CI 1.1-6.3)], working in the directorate of health [OR = 5.3 (95%CI 2.2-13.0)], and receiving training [OR = 6.3 (95%CI 3.0-13.4)] were independent factors significantly associated with taking leadership positions by women.

Conclusions: This study highlights the untapped potential of women in healthcare leadership, with many women demonstrating readiness for leadership roles and reporting positive leadership experiences. Addressing societal barriers through institutional policies and leadership programs, including structured leadership training, and childcare support, is crucial to advancing women in healthcare leadership. Further in-depth investigations are critical to exploring the sociocultural and communal factors.