The First-Ever State of the World’s Nursing Report: Unlocking the Gender Dimensions

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. Globally, 27.9 million nurses work at the front lines of health care systems and currently work side-by-side with other first responders to battle the spread of COVID-19.

The health sector uniquely employs more women than any other sector—in fact, approximately 90 percent of nurses are women. As such, nursing remains a highly gendered profession with associated biases. In April, the International Council of Nurses, the Nursing Now Campaign, and WHO will launch the first-ever State of the World Nursing (SoWN) Report to provide a global picture of the nursing workforce and unlock policy and investment opportunities in nursing, the health workforce, and the gender equity agenda.

Please join the Wilson Center and global health experts for a discussion on gender, the findings and recommendations found in the SoWN Report, and the unique role nurses play during the COVID-19 pandemic.