Gendered Health
Gippsland Women's Health Service promotes a gender-based approach to health promotion and health service delivery. 'Gender' refers to the socially constructed roles, responsibilities, identities and expectations assigned to men and women.
It is more than the fundamental biological and physiological differences between males and females. Gender roles differ between cultures and communities over time and the restrictions these roles can impose can have far reaching implications for health and wellbeing.
Aspects of women's and men's health and wellbeing that are influenced by gender include:
- Exposure to risk factors
- Understanding of information about disease management, prevention
and control - Subjective experience of illness and its social significance
- Attitudes towards the maintenance of personal health and that of
other family members - Patterns of service use
- Perceptions of quality of care.
Gender inclusive analysis examines the differences and disparities in the roles of women and men; the power imbalances in their relations; their different needs, constraints and opportunities; and the impact of these differences on their lives.
Gippsland Women's Health Service strongly advocates for the recognition and acknowledgment of the differences between men and women and assists in enabling women to make informed health choices through the delivery of appropriate health information.
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Women's health banners - gendered health resources
In July 2006, the Victorian Women's Health Summit was organised as an initiative of the Women's Health Association of Victoria (WHAV) to celebrate 21 years of "Why women's health" and to launch the women's health banners.
Women's health is often thought of simply as reproductive health. This doesn't take into account the social factors that impact on women's health and well-being. The ten portable banners were developed through collaborative partnerships between a range of representatives from the women's health services and health promotion agencies and are designed to help distinguish between the ways women and men experience life and how this difference impacts on their health.
The ten women's health banner topics are:
- Why women’s health: an overview (pdf 813 kb)
- Women and alcohol (pdf 437 kb)
- Women and cancer (pdf 465 kb)
- Women and financial security (pdf 646 kb)
- Women and heart disease (pdf 649 kb)
- Women and mental health (pdf 628 kb)
- Women and sexual and reproductive health (pdf 691 kb)
- Women and social connectedness(pdf 578 kb)
- Women and tobacco (pdf 535 kb)
- Women and violence (pdf 583 kb)
Borrowing the banners
The Women's Health Banners are available for borrowing from the Women's Health Victoria Clearinghouse.
To borrow the banners, please:
1. Print off the Booking Form (PDF 30 KB)
2. Fax the completed booking form to Women's Health Victoria on (03) 9663 7955.
For more information about borrowing the banners, please contact Women's Health Victoria Clearinghouse by phone on 9662 3755 or email.
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Gender diversity lens for health and human services
A priority action of the The Victorian Women's Health and Wellbeing Strategy, the 'Gender and Diversity Lens', has been developed with input from a range of stakeholders to assist programs and services to incorporate gender and diversity into their planning and service delivery. More details are available here.
