Gender Issues

The paper’s broad aim is to encourage HPE [Health Professional education] leaders to make gender-transformative reforms in the current way of doing business and commit to themselves to countering gender discrimination and inequality. Interventions to counter gender discrimination should be seen as integral parts of institutional and instructional reforms and essential investments to scale up quality HPE and recruit and retain health workers in the systems that educate and employ them. Implementation challenges spanning financial, informational, and cultural barriers need consideration.

The purpose of this course is to provide PAHO/WHO staff with basic skills on gender mainstreaming in health. The elearning builds familiarity with how gender operates as a determinant of health, guides guides participants through basic steps of applying gender responsive planning to their work, and introduces the basic skills to integrate gender concerns into public health practice.

The use of mHealth interventions withinin health systems research is increasing, with few taking into account the connections between gender and mHealth. This policy brief attempts to fill this gap by exploring key connections between mHealth and gender that need to be taken into account when conducting or implementing mHealth research and interventions.

Unpaid health and child care provided in the household, along with other activities that contribute to the physical, cognitive, and emotional development of members of a household, have a major impact on individual and public well-being, as well as on the human development potential of the countries. These economic activities, performed largely by women, take place outside the market and are therefore invisible in the economic statistics and national accounts systems of most countries. [from abstract]

This paper explores recent developments in female contraception, using them to illustrate how adaptation of existing methods, improved service delivery and understanding contraceptive behaviour might increase contraceptive uptake and correct and consistent use, and how the development of new methods holds some promise for capitalizing on the potential non-contraceptive benefits. [from abstract]

As part of a larger research project that explores whether and how gender equity considerations are taken into account in the reconstruction and reform of health systems in conflict-affected and post conflict countries, we undertook a narrative literature review based on the questions “How gender sensitive is the reconstruction and reform of health systems in post conflict countries, and what factors need to be taken into consideration to build a gender equitable health system?” We used the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) six building blocks as a framework for our analysis; these six b

This review presents evidence showing how gender-integrated programming influences health outcomes
in low- and middle-income countries: in particular, reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent
health (RMNCH+A); HIV prevention and AIDS response; gender-based violence (GBV); tuberculosis
(TB); and universal health coverage (UHC).

Please find the link to the Transforming Gender Norms, Roles, and Power Dynamics for Better Health: Evidence from a Systematic Review of Gender-integrated Health Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries:

This review presents evidence showing how gender-integrated programming influences health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries: in particular, reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health; HIV prevention and AIDS response; gender-based violence; tuberculosis; and universal health coverage.[from abstract]

Please find the link to the Transforming Gender Norms, Roles, and Power Dynamics for Better Health: Gender-integrated Programs Reference Document: http://www.hrhresourcecenter.org/node/6086

To evaluate the effect of nursing educational guidelines on women’s awareness, health practices and beliefs regarding the prevention and early detection of breast and cervical cancer. [from abstract]

This document is a guide for advocating for attention to gender issues in future microbicide introduction. The guide is based on the findings from a gender analysis conducted by FHI 360 in Kenya in 2012–2013. The purpose of this analysis was to examine how gender norms and inequalities may affect women’s access to and use of a microbicide product. [from introduction]

This pocket card, created with input from the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) Men’s and Women’s Sectors, is designed to build support for a gender-integrated microbicides rollout among both community members and policy makers. [from introduction]

This article summarizes the key role that lady health workers play in polio eradication; outlines the problems faced by these workers such as the risk to their lives through shootings and bombings, the lack of a living wage and dearth of advancement opportunities; and offers suggestions to improve the situation.

Health care professionals are expected to be aware of how to identify and manage the consequences of female genital mutilation in order to ensure that those affected by the practice receive quality health care, and their integration and legitimacy within the communities allow them to play a key role in the prevention of the practice. This study sought to examine the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding female genital mutilation among health workers in rural settings in Gambia. [adapted from abstract]

This study explores whether and how socio-cultural factors such as influence of gendered norms and extended family relationships impact lady health workers’ home-visit rates. [adapted from abstract]

This study assessed the role of women as fractional full-time equivalent rural academics in the context of significant health workforce shortage and increasing academic demand and concluded that female doctors who are willing to take on part-time work are supporting the rural medical teaching workforce. [adapted from abstract]

This article examines the extent, motivation, and prevalence of village level health workers’ interaction with men concerning reproductive health issues in rural central India. [from author]

The main goal of reproductive health publications is to advance reproductive health outcomes. However, with this guidance, health professional staff also can learn to incorporate gender perspectives into every stage of the publication process and thus ensure that women and men in the audience receive and understand the information they need. [adapted from author]

This paper assesses the gender-based distribution of the United Republic of Tanzania’s health workforce cadres. [from abstract]

In Pakistan, where gendered norms restrict women’s mobility, female community health workers (CHWs) provide doorstep primary health services to home-bound women. This study aims to understand how these cultural norms affect CHWs’ home-visit rates and the quality of services delivered. [from abstract]

The negative impact of gender wage differentials is the disincentive to work more hours. This implies a substantial cost on the Australian health sector. This study aimed to identify the magnitude of gender wage differentials within the health sector. [from abstract]

This report describes the results of a systematic and expert review undertaken to identify practices that have the potential to counter forms of gender discrimination against students and faculty in preservice education institutions. [from publisher]

This technical brief provides an overview of how gender discrimination affects health professional students and faculty as well as intervention options that the expert panel identified as having potential to counter gender discrimination. In addition, it offers recommendations for preservice education institutions and other stakeholders to address these challenges. [from publisher]

The objective of this study was to identify which patient characteristics are associated with silence towards the healthcare system after experiences of abusive or ethically wrongful transgressive behaviour by healthcare staff. [from abstract]

This free online course is available in English and French and is intended to expose the participant to basic concepts, issues, and standards related to gender equality in the health workforce. [from publisher]

The aim of this study was to explore contemporary lay health worker policy development processes and the extent to which issues of gender are taken up within this process. [from abstract]

This paper discusses the meaning of gender equality in the context of human resources for health, and offers practical ways to address it. [from publisher]

There is an accumulating body of evidence on gender differences in health workers’ employment patterns and pay, but inequalities in access to non-pecuniary benefits between men and women have received little attention. This study investigates empirically whether gender differences can be observed in health workers’ access to non-pecuniary benefits across six low- and middle-income countries. [from abstract]

This strategy document introduces the issue of female genital mutilation (FGM) as it relates to health workers, the scale of the problem in the medical field, challenges to be addressed concerning medicalization of FGM, and strategies to accelerate progress from health care providers and national authorities. [adapted from author]

This study examined work related characteristics, work-home and home-work interference and burnout among Serbian primary healthcare physicians and compared burnout levels with other medical doctors in European Union countries. [from abstract]

This article reexamines a set of study findings that directly relate to the influence of gender on workplace violence, synthesizes these findings with other research from Rwanda, and examines the subsequent impact of the study on Rwanda’s policy environment. [from abstract]