A toolkit to improve practice environments for women in pharmaceutical science and pharmacy education has been released by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). The toolkit was developed by the FIPWiSE (FIP Women in Science and Education) Enabling Workplaces Working Group, and builds on the Federation’s collaborative work with the World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA) to ensure positive practice environments (PPEs) for healthcare professionals, said the FIP.
Based on the WHPA’s PPE campaign, literature, and experiences of women pharmaceutical scientists and educators, the toolkit raises awareness of areas that require attention, it stated. These have been categorised
into five key domains:
Equal incentives for equal work.
- Equal incentives for equal work.
- Work-life balance.
- Creating supportive and safe working environments.
- Opportunities for professional development, recognition and empowerment.
- Women in leadership.
The toolkit presents possible solutions that can be implemented by professionals, employers and policy-makers to
generate and maintain supportive working environments, accompanied by case studies.
Although women comprise the majority of the health and care workforce, they are under-represented in the science, technology and education workforce, said the FIP. In addition, when it comes to career progression, there are significant differences between genders in these fields. For example, there is evidence that women have fewer papers published, the toolkit notes.
