DIAS Guest Lecture: Gender Justice for Global Health: what, why, how?

Sarah Hawkes, Professor of Global Public Health at University College London, UK



Invited and presented by DIAS Fellow Angela Y. Chang



Gender Justice for Global Health: what, why, how?



‘Gender’ is a politically charged term, capable of sewing divisions across generations and geographies, and contested by overt and well-funded ‘anti-gender’ movements around the world.



Yet, gender is also widely misunderstood – frequently confused with ‘sex’ and often used as shorthand for ‘women and girls’. In this talk I will argue that, at its core, gender represents the distribution of power – within interpersonal relationships as well as across the systems and structures of every society.



What does such an understanding of gender mean for health and wellbeing? How do we interpret and analyse the impact of gender power relations on people’s likelihood of living a healthy life?



In this talk I will explore the historical and political origins of gender in gender global health and analyse current institutional and organisational responses to gender within the global health eco-system. The talk will focus on showing how a more comprehensive understanding of gender, based on notions of justice, within the field of global health can be used to leverage gains in everyone’s health and wellbeing.




About:

Sarah Hawkes is a medical doctor with a degree in sociology and a PhD in epidemiology. She is Professor of Global Public Health at University College London, UK, where she leads a research theme analysing the use of research evidence in policy processes, particularly in relation to gender and health equity.



Sarah is co-Chair of the Lancet Commission on Gender and Global Health , and co-Director and co-founder of Global Health 50/50 which advances action and accountability for gender equality in global health.



She has lived and worked for much of the past 30 years in Asia (South, East and West), where she has gathered evidence, collaborated to strengthen capacity, and operated at the interface of policy and research communities – working alongside national Governments, UN agencies and civil society organisations promoting gender equality, health equity and human rights in health policies and programmes.




The lecture takes place in the DIAS Auditorium, Fioniavej 34. Everybody is welcome and no registration is needed.





Live stream it at youtube.com/@danish-ias