Publications

(1997) Developed by PAHO's Woman, Health and Development Program in 1997 (currently the Gender, Ethnicity and Health Unit), this guide provides a structure and some tools for a workshop on looking at health through a gender lens, understanding men’s and women’s health-illness processes and improving the equity with which roles, responsibilities and rewards are distributed in health promotion and care.

The guide provides a basis for discussion and advocacy in a process aimed at building consensus around the identification of problems, the establishment of priorities for action, the formulation or reformulation of policy objectives, and the definition of indicators and strategies for monitoring application of the resulting policies.

Gender Mainstreaming in Health: A Practical Guide.

April 2010.

This packet takes a gender perspective to achieving health equity and provides evidence to show how biological factors interact with gender norms, roles and relations (or socio-cultural factors) to affect the health of women and men and that of their communities.

This document is a compilation of existing resources (reports, manuals, guidelines etc.) on mainstreaming gender in health projects, programs and policies.

A gender and ethnicity analysis of cancer

Cancer in Manitoba, Canada

Women and men have different socially and culturally defined expectations for ideal body weight, and thus perceive their bodies differently and respond to distinct motivations for gaining or losing weight. Further, their social position, power, access to resources, roles in family and community differ, and have consequences for their access to food and other resources that help promote healthy body weight. Knowledge of these and other distinct factors in the lives of Guatemalan women and men can help to pinpoint opportunities for more strategic, appropriate and efficient means for the prevention of overweight and obesity.

The analysis offered in this case study considers some of the social underpinnings of risk for homicide and involvement in violence, with the goal of improving the sensitivity and effectiveness of policy and programs though a public health and multi-sector approach to prevention.

 (2000) Domestic Violence: Women’s Way Out is intended to draw attention to violence against women and girls as a priority problem and to identify resources that can help to address it. The situation analysis of domestic violence reveals the complexity of the problem and shows that solving it will require coordinated intersectoral policies and action, with the participation of both the State and civil society. This research protocol is the result of the cumulative work and commitment of numerous investigators, activists, and officials to address violence against women and improve the services available for women affected by it.

The development of the protocol began with the drafting and review of a preliminary version by the team of investigators in the course of three workshops. The final protocol was applied in 15 communities in 10 countries, 7 in Central America and 3 in the Andean area, and it was tailored to each country’s conditions. Through field interviews, qualitative data were collected from a wide range of women, service providers, and community members, representing groups of varying age, ethnicity, socioeconomic level, and marital status.