The Women’s Health Collective aims to promote actions initiated by women in the health sector and put people back at the heart of the health system. Update with its founder, Alice from Maximy.
Interview by Laure Martin.
How did the idea of creating this collective come about?
Two years ago I created a start-up in the health sector, hkind. And it is through this intermediary that the idea of the collective was born. I am a former communications manager for the Ile-de-France Regional Health Agency (ARS) and former coordinator of the major health emergencies program of the National Institute for Prevention and Education for Health (Inpes). So I have always worked in the health sector and I have always been aware of the compartmentalization problem in this sector.
One evening, during a dinner, I discovered the initiative of a marauding, led by a midwife, who went to meet homeless women so that they would not give birth in the street. I had never heard of this initiative and I was sure that many people were in the same situation as me. Proof that information does not circulate correctly in the health sector, and that the players in the sector are not aware of initiatives which would nevertheless allow them to save time.
It is for this reason that I wanted to create hkind, an application that connects health players with each other, through initiatives. It was while developing my project that I realized that women were not putting themselves forward enough. Moreover, among the 1000 people with the most media coverage in France, only 18.4% are women. It is surprising ! And unacceptable… When I learned about it, I decided to write a White Paper to push only women’s initiatives and thus rectify this inequality.
It’s complicated to say “look at me” for a woman because our society is built around men in action and women in waiting.
How did your project materialize?
To create hkind, I integrated an incubator, Willa, dedicated to female entrepreneurship, and in tech. Through these intermediaries, I made meetings and I was able to materialize my idea, in particular with five students from a digital school, who supported me in my project.
At the same time, I launched a call on social networks so that I could be named women who have carried out projects in the health sector, useful and human. More than 40 women have been nominated by others. Emmanuelle Pierga, Communications Director of Orange Healthcare contacted me after learning about my project and told me of his willingness to support me. Together, we chose 15 women out of 40, and 13 answered yes.
The selection was made – and still is – on the basis of initiative, but then it is the woman who wears it that we want to highlight. We video interviewed them and put on an event – an audio exhibit – to shine a light on women in health. By communicating about the event, I had more than 100 registrations. It was there that I had the idea to create the collective. I also obtained the support of the Ile-de-France Region. Today we have around 380 members including 4 men. We cannot advocate for gender equality, and exclude one gender …
In November, we presented our second class of 13 women, which we selected by launching a call to our women in our network.
What do all these women have in common?
They are humble. They do not take the step to put themselves forward but they are happy to be chosen. It’s complicated to say “look at me” for a woman because our society is built around men in action and women in waiting. This trend must be changed. Women also try to promote their project, but they do not seek to put themselves forward. Me, that’s what I want because I want our children to live in an egalitarian world, without stigmatizing a gender.
What are the collective’s missions?
We want to put people back at the heart of health. We also want to help each other among women in health. Moreover, we have a closed network where each member can post announcements, a request for help, job offers. Through network sharing and sharing of experiences, we train and help each other.
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