Guest writer

A benefit to all

When females succeed, we all win

During my 20+ years in health care, I've bumped up against my fair share of glass ceilings. Of course, I'm not alone.

Only 19 percent of health-care CEOs are women, and women represent only five percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. In fact, according to the New York Times, fewer large companies are run by women than by men named John, a sure sign that this country has a long way to go to achieve full and equal participation of women.

The No Ceilings Full Participation Report and data on NoCeilings.org--released earlier this month by the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation--examines more than 20 years of global data regarding women and girls. The report identifies the gains made and the gaps that remain since the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, when international leaders agreed to a Platform for Action to ensure the full and equal participation of women worldwide.

The report's message is clear: we must do more to ensure all women and girls are safe, healthy and educated. As the president and CEO of Arkansas Children's Hospital, the health of women and girls is one of my main concerns. According to the report, females are healthier than they were 20 years ago, which is great news. However, progress has been uneven, especially when it comes to poor, rural and minority women and girls.

Nowhere is this more evident than in our own state of Arkansas. A recent study by WalletHub looked at all 50 states and the District of Columbia to find the best and worst environments for women. The analysts used 13 metrics, ranging from median earnings for female workers to women's preventive health care. Sadly, Arkansas ranks 51st in women's economic and social well-being, and 46th in women's health care.

Here are some unsettling examples of what 46th place looks like:

• In 2014, 46.6 percent of Hispanic girls, 45 percent of African-American girls and 35 percent of white girls in Arkansas were considered overweight or obese.

• Arkansas had the highest teen birth rate in the United States in 2013. More than 4,100 girls, ages 15 through 19, gave birth. That's about 11 per day. And 19 percent of these births were not the teen's first.

• In 2013, the rate of child maltreatment for girls in Arkansas was almost 20 percent greater than that of boys, with 16 out of 1,000 girls suffering some form of abuse or neglect. When we focus on just child sexual abuse, the numbers become even more staggering, with one in five girls in Arkansas being victimized by the age of 18.

These statistics keep me up at night. I care because I'm the mother of two teenage girls. I care because I'm the CEO of Arkansas Children's Hospital--an organization that strives to champion all children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow.

I care because I grew up in this state--and I want it to be at the top of national rankings instead of the bottom.

Why should you care? Because the data collected in the No Ceilings Full Participation Report and presented through a series of visualizations on NoCeilings.org shows that when women and girls succeed, everyone benefits. Healthy, educated women and girls have healthier, more educated children and families. And that makes for stronger communities across our state.

We have a long way to go until there are no ceilings for women and girls in Arkansas. It will take all of us--health-care professionals, business and community leaders, policymakers and concerned, passionate citizens--working together to ensure all women and girls in Arkansas are healthy, safe and educated.

We at Arkansas Children's Hospital stand ready to be a part of the process. Won't you join us?

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Marcy Doderer became president and CEO of Arkansas Children's Hospital in July 2013. She has more than 20 years of health-care management experience. Marcy and her husband, Mark, have two daughters.

Editorial on 03/30/2015

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