Globally, women comprise 70% of the health workforce and deliver essential services to nearly 5 billion people (WHO). However, only 25% of leadership positions in health are held by women (WHO), with disparities even more pronounced in ophthalmology. In this field, women represent only 25-30% of ophthalmologists and are underrepresented in leadership roles (Gill et al., 2022), with starting salaries showing a reported 10.3% pay gap compared to male colleagues (Jia et al., 2021).
In Ghana though ophthalmic nurses and opticians are largely females, cadres like optometrists and ophthalmologists have low female representation. Female ophthalmologists represent 44% of all practicing ophthalmologists (OSG database 2024) while female optometrists represent 29% of all optometrists (GOA database 2024) there is also a glaring lack of representation in leadership roles. This imbalance restricts women’s contributions at the highest levels, despite their significant role in bringing unique perspectives and skills to eye healthcare delivery.
Women Leaders in Eye Health (WLEH), a partnership between Orbis International, Women in Ophthalmology and Seva Foundation, is a pioneering collaborative initiative uplifting women across the ophthalmic space, through transformative leadership, mentorship, and strong global connections, helping to break down barriers to women’s advancement and promote inclusive eye care access for all. Women Leaders in Eye Health (WLEH) brings like-minded, dedicated women together to create opportunities and find solutions to challenges. Acknowledging that eye health is not gender-neutral, Orbis International has committed to a gender transformative strategy, including our efforts with WLEH.
Key ways to address the gender gap in eye health
Highlighting initiatives such as mentorship programs and networking opportunities enable the growth and support to uplift women in the medical field. On Saturday 16th August 2025, Orbis International Ghana held the first ever conference for female eye health professionals from four ophthalmic cadres (ophthalmologists, optometrists, ophthalmic nurses and opticians) at the Golden Bean Hotel, Kumasi- under the theme of “Mentorship, Breaking Barriers; Building Legacies”. This event supported this powerful group of leaders to leave behind differences and find viable solutions to the peculiar challenges women face in their communities and career.
Innovations in telemedicine and AI have proven to help overcome access barriers for women. Orbis International’s transformative telemedicine platform, CyberSight, and our use of the blended learning approach helps significantly to train residents and fellows in the ophthalmic education program. Providing equitable opportunity and access to training resources and methodologies allow female eye health professionals to pursue their interests while tackling other gender specific challenges that could tarry their career aspirations.
Showcasing women’s contributions to research, innovation, and patient care is critical.. In Ghana, Community Health Nurses have successfully increased eye health awareness in under-served communities. While women ophthalmologists face unique challenges to thrive in subspeciality areas, it is notable that the only pediatric ophthalmologists in the country (5 total) are all women. Congratulations to these 5 trailblazing women who are breaking barriers and building legacies by providing services and training rising stars in this subspecialty. Orbis pledges to continue our support in providing resources that are aligned with current technology and training for these inspiring leaders.
Ensuring a representation of women in leadership roles inspire future generations of female professionals. This conference will serve as a springboard to pioneer a Women in Ophthalmology Society in Ghana which seeks to advocate and uplift women as leaders in this sector and beyond.
Recommendations
The Ministry Of Health should strengthen the capacity of the only Ophthalmic nursing training school in Ghana serving the sub-region to a center of excellence while taking steps to establish new ophthalmic nursing training institutions in other parts of the country to increase access to ophthalmic nursing education in the country and beyond. Orbis is open to partnership and collaboration in this regard.
Women in eye care should continue to standout in their various facilities, offering excellent services to patients and embrace leadership roles. Through the support of this society, they will have a support system that will mentor and promote participation and assumption of leadership activities and roles.
Health facilities should make financial support available for ophthalmic training apart from study leave to attract more people to pursue further studies in the ophthalmic space to ensure that training is equitable and accessible to all.
Conclusion:
As we celebrate milestones and progress, we congratulate the College of Physicians and Surgeons for their proactive leadership increasing the numbers in ophthalmology training while standardizing quality and alleviating the barriers by decentralizing training centers in addition to opening up for collaboration with Orbis International .
By uplifting women in eye health, we strengthen our collective mission to deliver exceptional care and advance global eye health, in Ghana and beyond.
