Guidance for advocating to address gender discrimination in the health workforce

11. Monitor and communicate results to build on successes

Take time to habitually review progress on your advocacy objectives. Sustaining policy support over time is much easier if there is evidence that the investment of political and financial capital is producing results. From the early stages of policy implementation, advocates should accumulate credible evidence on the policy’s impact. To the extent possible, quantify the results, such as the effect the equal opportunity/gender equality interventions have on health worker retention (and, therefore, on service availability). For example, the British Government demonstrated that after establishing flexible working policies, 65% of employers stated that these policies had a “positive effect on employee recruitment and retention, thus saving on recruitment, induction, and training costs”; as a result, 58% of small businesses experienced an increase in productivity. Qualitative data can show that flexible policies were key to a worker’s satisfaction with a job.