Behind the paper: Male allyship to advance women’s leadership in global health academia: A qualitative study

Today we talk with the authors of a recently published study in PLOS Global Public Health, Male allyship to advance women’s leadership in global health academia: A qualitative study, by Amanda Marr Chung, Ola Alani, and Michele Barry

What led you to decide on this research question?

We were motivated by the documented dearth of women in senior leadership positions and the shortage of visible male allies to elevate women leaders, not just in global health but all sectors. This was especially urgent and timely with the rise of toxic masculinity and the manosphere. We hypothesized that there were men who wanted to be allies to women but did not have the tools to do so.

Could you talk us through how you designed your study? What was important for your team as you created the study team?

As the incubator of WomenLift Health, the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health is aligned with its mission to expand the power and influence of talented women in global health and catalyze systemic change to achieve gender equality in leadership. We already had the requisite research skills and network within our team, and due to our location and positionality, we decided to go deep by interviewing participants in North America rather than broad by covering other geographies. We intend to expand our research during a second phase and involve investigators from the Global South. When developing our interview guide, it was critical to get female and male perspectives. We gathered feedback and refined our approach by pilot testing the research questions with several leaders in global and public health.

What challenges did you encounter during your study?

We encountered difficulty ensuring that we interviewed a more diverse pool of participants. We lacked global health leaders from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and certain ethnicities, gender identities, and abilities were underrepresented. This is likely due to the need for more diverse global health leaders in North America. We compiled a list of potential participants and reached out to many of them on this list, but we weren’t always successful in getting a response.

What did you find most striking about your results? How will this research be used?

We were struck by the impact of intersectionality on participants’ beliefs, perceptions, and actions around allyship, and the importance of allyship by those from non-dominant groups as a complement to those with more privilege and power.

We hope this paper inspires readers to be allies of women leaders and provides concrete tools to take action. This research also serves as a starting point for a global survey and regional focus group to expand findings and disseminate resources to foster male allyship while also diversifying global health senior leadership. If you work in global health and are interested in learning more about our work and phase two of the research, contact [email protected] and visit our project webpage.

What further research questions need to be addressed in this area?

In the second phase of our research, we hope to address additional research questions such as: how to incentivize men to be male allies, the application of our findings to settings outside academia, and the influence of different cultural contexts outside of US and Canada.

Why did you choose PLOS Global Public Health as a venue for your article?

We selected PLOS Global Public Health for its wide readership, focus on global health, and prioritization of equity, diversity, and inclusion at all levels. We have also published a prior paper in PLOS Global Public Health related to the integration of a vertical HIV prevention program in Zimbabwe.