Intersection: Making healthcare more inclusive

DELIVERING ON DIVERSITY, GENDER EQUALITY, AND INCLUSION

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In this issue, we focus on health: the first out transgender official confirmed by the US Senate, a groundbreaking New Zealand law on paid leave following miscarriage, the lack of diversity among US doctors, and unmet contraception needs in Africa.

THE ZEITGEIST

Matters of health

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On their shoulders. Dr. Rachel Levine is the first out transgender person to serve in a US Senate-confirmed position. Upon her confirmation last week as assistant secretary for health, Dr. Levine thanked the LGBTQ+ community including “those whose names we will never know because they were forced to live and work in the shadows.” McKinsey research shows that more than one in four LGBTQ+ employees worldwide are not broadly out at work—and company policies can make life harder. Organizations can support LGBTQ+ employees in a number of ways, including by providing gender-neutral restrooms, trans-inclusive healthcare coverage, and medical leave for employees who are transitioning.

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After loss. Last week, the New Zealand Parliament approved legislation requiring employers to provide three days of paid leave to couples who experience a miscarriage. Support for employees of all genders following the loss of a pregnancy, as well as during pregnancy and upon return to work, could help women around the world remain part of the workforce—at a time when many are considering leaving it.

THE FACTS

Discrimination at the doctor's office

Roughly one-third of Black Americans report that they have experienced racial discrimination when seeking medical care. Some would prefer to see a Black doctor; in one survey conducted in Oakland, California, two-thirds of Black men said that a Black doctor would best understand their concerns. But only 5 percent of doctors in the United States are Black. Hispanic and Latinx Americans are also underrepresented in medicine: they make up 18 percent of the US population but only 6 percent of physicians. And many Americans—including members of the Asian American community, who speak a wide variety of languages—struggle to communicate with their providers. Four in ten US hospitals offer no linguistic or translation services. Greater representation among providers could improve healthcare quality and experiences for people of color. And in the meantime? Healthcare organizations could provide language assistance across all of their services, both in person and online.

THE TAKEAWAY

How can we measure gender equality? One way is to look at access to essential services that can boost economic opportunity. Among them: family planning. Worldwide, more than one in five women who want to avoid or postpone pregnancy are using a traditional method of contraception (such as withdrawal, abstinence, or fertility awareness-based methods) or no method at all.

African women in particular face high unmet family-planning needs; in sub-Saharan Africa, only about half of women who want to avoid pregnancy are using modern contraceptives, according to the United Nations. Adolescents and young women between the ages of 15 and 24 are in critical need of sexual and reproductive healthcare. Compared with other age groups, they have a harder time gaining access to contraceptives, and even getting information about them. One reason for this is stigma—both toward those who are unmarried and sexually active, and toward those who are married and don't want to get pregnant.

Global progress toward gender equality has been marginal since 2015, but McKinsey research shows that if action is taken to advance gender equality now—not just once the crisis has subsided—$12 trillion could be added to global GDP in 2030. Making sure that women and adolescent girls have access to contraceptives is key to their health—and to global economic progress.

— Edited by Julia Arnous, an editor in McKinsey's Boston office

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