Intersectional challenges and resilience strategies among global majority women in UK healthcare

The National Health Service in the United Kingdom is one of the most diverse healthcare systems globally, yet global majority women healthcare professionals from racialised and migrant backgrounds continue to experience entrenched inequalities. Their careers and well-being are shaped by the intersections of race, gender, religion, and migration status, producing compounded barriers and distinctive resilience practices. This study explores the intersectional challenges and resilience strategies of global majority women healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom, with a focus on how overlapping identities shape both disadvantage and coping. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with 37 global majority women professionals across multiple healthcare roles, the study employed an intersectional feminist framework to analyse lived experiences. Thematic analysis identified patterns of marginalisation and the strategies participants used to sustain careers and well-being. Participants reported compounded professional marginalisation, cultural–religious barriers to workplace integration, motherhood penalties intensified by migration, and psychological strain. Structural exclusion within healthcare organisations further amplified inequities, often through neglect rather than overt hostility. Despite these challenges, participants demonstrated resilience through spiritual anchoring, collective resource mobilisation, strategic time management, and career restructuring. However, these strategies often displaced responsibility onto individuals and families, while institutions benefitted from their adaptability. Global majority women healthcare professionals experience intersecting structural and cultural barriers that undermine career progression and well-being. Their resilience not only highlights agency but also reveals systemic inequities that remain unaddressed. Organisational and policy interventions must move beyond individualised resilience models to dismantle structural barriers and create inclusive healthcare environments.