Promoting Women’s Health and Equity

 

 

As companies tailor healthcare benefits to cater for the needs of a diverse workforce, women’s health and family building are emerging as key focus areas.

 

For HR leaders looking to drive business performance, women’s health is becoming an increasingly important topic. The current healthcare landscape presents three major challenges related to women’s health:

1. Access to Quality Clinical Care
   

   Women are often under-represented in clinical research, leading to later diagnoses for certain illnesses compared with men. Women are also 50 percent¹ more likely to suffer from severe medication side effects. These issues are compounded by inadequate provision for health conditions that are only experienced by women.

2. Affordability of Care
   

   According to research and analysis by the Grattan Institute², women in Australia often pay more out of their own pocket for healthcare services than men. They’re more likely than men to visit their GP and pay for prescription medication and more likely to have two or more chronic conditions. Cost isn’t the only challenge women face in accessing treatment. According to a recent study, 21 percent of women in APAC felt strongly that they are likely to have delayed or avoided medical treatment at least once due to a family obligation³.

3. Total Rewards and Workplace Culture
   

   Over the course of their lives, women in Asia have less income, less savings and less access to pension benefits than men⁴. This affects both their overall financial wellbeing and their ability to afford healthcare, highlighting the important role employers can play in addressing access and affordability issues for women.

 

How Women Experience Menopause in the Workplace

Workforce participation rates for older women in Asia are rising faster than for men⁵, yet the majority do not feel comfortable seeking support from their employer during menopause. Thirty-nine percent of women who experience pain or discomfort due to menopause say they work through it and 13 percent don’t feel comfortable discussing the impacts of menopause with their manager⁶.

 

Although menopause is openly discussed in some workplaces, overall there is a society-wide lack of awareness and understanding of this life stage. Employers have an important role to play both in fostering workplace cultures where women can talk freely about symptoms and in providing flexible working options and benefits to reduce the negative impacts of menopause-related health issues.

Family Building Benefits are Growing in Importance

With one in six of our global population experiencing infertility⁸, more people are seeking help with trying to conceive. Yet access to assisted reproductive technologies is a challenge and government support for couples seeking help to become parents remains patchy across Asia⁹. This highlights the importance of a new approach to family-building benefits. Benefits can range from emotional, financial and clinical support for assisted reproduction to legal support for surrogacy and adoption.

 

Family building is a priority for people of all gender identities. For example, 60 percent of LGBTQ+ couples have stated interest in starting families,¹⁰ yet insurance rarely covers these costs. Companies can foster a more inclusive workplace by ensuring comprehensive provisions, such as parenting support, fertility assistance, and surrogacy for single parents, straight and same-sex couples alike.

Three Ways to Improve Women’s Health

Organisations are increasingly incorporating family building and women’s health initiatives into their employee benefits programs to support the unique needs of all employees. Here are three approaches to matching your offer to workforce needs:

1. Use Data and Analytics

   Analytics can help organisations identify opportunities to improve access to healthcare and lower costs. Aon’s Health, Equity and Affordability Tool (HEAT) helps firms understand and connect how healthcare costs and affordability are related to demographics, physical and mental health conditions, health habits, plan design, location, healthcare labour supply and work productivity.

2. Review Benefit Offerings

   The latest offerings in the rewards market include a range of women’s health and family-building benefits:

   • Menopause-friendly workplaces (e.g., dress code, cooling room)
   • Flexible work and leave policies for caregiving and menopause
   • Reproductive health
   • Fertility treatment
   • Adoption concierge and legal support
   • Maternity management
   • Parenting and paediatric support
   • Caregiver and eldercare support

   Some employers now provide coverage for women’s preventative care, and access to centres of excellence for fertility and family-forming issues.

3. Educate and train the entire company.

   Women's health doesn’t just affect women. Training, such as a manager toolkit, should be available to both men and women and should concentrate on education and support. Organisations can also encourage women-focused business resource groups, including ones for new mothers or elder caregivers, for further support.

   "More companies are addressing women's health and introducing family building benefits to meet employees’ diverse needs, bridge the gender health gap and create a more inclusive and supportive workplace for all,” says Susan Fanning, head of wellbeing solutions, Human Capital, Asia Pacific at Aon.

 

¹ Sex differences in adverse drug reactions reported to the National Pharmacovigilance Centre in the Netherlands: An explorative observational study - Vries - 2019 - British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology - Wiley Online Library
² Healthcare out-of-pocket costs: an agenda for International Women’s Day, The Grattan Institute
³ Why improving women’s health must become a social and national priority, World Economic Forum/Roche Diagnostics, 2023
⁴ The Financial Security of Older Women in Southeast Asia, Asian Women’s Forum on Financial Security, 2019
⁵ What Asia’s ageing economies need to do to survive, Australian Financial Review, 3 July 2023
⁶ Women @ Work 2024: A Global Outlook, Deloitte
⁷ Women are Leaving the Global Workforce for a Little Talked-About Reason, Bloomberg, 2021
⁸ 1 in 6 people globally affected by infertility, World Health Organisation (WHO)
⁹ Fertility trends in Asia: a snapshot, Merck
¹⁰ Why fertility benefits should be on every employer’s 2021 list, Carrot