Unveiling Life Sciences Secrets: Women in Leadership in Life Sciences 2023 Report

Can you believe that the gender pay gap within Life Sciences has doubled over the last year, skyrocketing from 8% in 2022 to a staggering 16% in 2023?!

This eye-opening revelation fuelled our drive to go all in, digging deep into the heart of the matter and creating something extraordinary: our debut white paper, Women in Leadership in Life Sciences 2023. 

To kick things off, we went on a mission to truly understand the experiences of our valued Life Sciences network – people just like you who’re making waves in global health – and listen to their opinions on the industry we wholeheartedly support.

And let me tell you, the response was incredible! Over 4,600 individuals stepped forward, lending their voices and providing us with invaluable insight into the different experiences men and women face when reaching senior positions in their respective sub-sectors of Life Sciences.

Here’s what we uncovered during our study: Only 36% of C-suite positions in Life Sciences are currently occupied by women, and 64% of them believe men have a head start on career advancements within our industry.

I know, it’s incredibly disheartening, but guess what? The desire for change is piping hot, with 87% of Meet’s Life Sciences partners hoping to see more women acquire leadership roles in the future – and that’s just scratching the surface!

The compelling insights we gained from our Life Sciences partners went on to guide many other parts of our investigation. As such, we were able to draw upon external studies, conducted by prominent and valued Life Sciences organizations, further shedding light on the glaring gender disparities in senior roles across the industry.

For instance, did you know that women hold 61% of Life Sciences Bachelor’s degrees, 58% of Master’s degrees, and 53% of Life Sciences Doctorates but only account for 31% of Executive positions throughout the industry? 

Or that women in Manager, Director, and VP positions have increased by a mere 3% in the last five years?

And get this, in 2023, women in Life Sciences earn just 87% of what men earn in full-time roles!

This report is filled to the brim with interesting discussion points, from the factors contributing to the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles to the ways in which the industry can attract and support more women in senior positions – plus much, much more!

If you’re itching to learn more about this subject and dive deep into the insights of your Life Sciences peers, simply tap the image below:

We didn’t just create this report to amplify the voices of our Life Sciences partners; we also wanted to bring attention to where many of these issues stem from because let’s face it, most of us remain blissfully unaware of these things until they’re pointed out to us! 

For us at Meet, we’re forever committed to providing each and every one of our partners with opportunities to grow and succeed, and we know that looks different for everyone, but having visionaries just like you be our magnifying lens into the industry we passionately support has only made us better at supporting you.

We know this is a little bit different from our usual newsletters, but as always, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Catch you again soon, 

The Meet Team