Gender-based analysis

This edition of biannual newsletter is dedicated to the Institute’s strategic direction on work and health, an area that will be the focus of targeted funding opportunities launched by the Institute over the next two years.

Inside this issue:

Message from the Scientific Director
KT Monitor: Women’s Mental Health Symposium Sparks Momentum
IGH Cochrane Corner: Integrating Sex and Gender in Logic Models for Systematic Reviews
News Briefs: The First National Gender, Sex and Health Conference
Trainee Spotlight: 4 Questions for Stéphanie Thibault-Gagnon
Gender and the New Diseases of Occupation
From Womb to Old Age: Sex, Gender and the Health Effects of Work
Hooked on Health in the Fishing Industry
The Shady Side of Work under the Sun

A book written by members of Women and Health Care Reform, a national working group housed within the National Network on Environments and Women’s Health, the collection points to the importance of including gender in health sector decision-making. Twelve concise chapters address a wide range of issues, including obesity, maternity care, mental health of health care workers, and private health insurance. 

This peer-reviewed casebook presents a range of research-based accounts that illustrate how attending to gender and sex in health research contributes to advancing knowledge, strengthening science and improving knowledge translation. Written from a critically reflective vantage point, chapters share health researchers' experiences in how they came to understand and engage gender and sex in their work. This collection demonstrates that there is much to be gained from the routine integration of gender and sex across the health research spectrum.

Three presentations on the IGH's peer-reviewed casebook that presents a range of research-based accounts that illustrate how attending to gender and sex in health research contributes to advancing knowledge, strengthening science and improving knowledge translation. Written from a critically reflective vantage point, chapters share health researchers' experiences in how they came to understand and engage gender and sex in their work. This collection demonstrates that there is much to be gained from the routine integration of gender and sex across the health research spectrum.
Presenting authors:
Adrianna Mendrek (presentation in English): Sex and gender differences in mental health research
Karen Messing (presentation in French): Work exposures and musculoskeletal disorders: how the treatment of gender and sex in population-based surveys can affect detection of exposure-effect relationships
John Oliffe (presentation in English): Mobilizing masculinity to support fathers who want to be smoke free

Provides an introduction to how participant-driven visual methods (e.g., photography, video) can be used in gender and health research. Drawing on examples from past research projects the session explores how visual methods enable us to “see” or surface gender in qualitative data. Particular attention is given to the use of visual findings to explore social theories of gender, embodiment, addiction and illness.

The 25^th anniversary of this publication includes chapters on immigrant women, women in a visible minority, Aboriginal women, senior women, and women with participation and activity limitations. The first edition was published in 1985, the year of the United Nations Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi. The report from the Conference noted that a ‘lack of reliable data prevents the assessment of relative improvements in women's status in the various sectors’, and urged ‘[f]urther investment in evolving adequate gender-specific data’.Women in Canada’s scope and purpose outlined in 1985 responded to that call, and continues today, intending to aid the continuing discussion and evaluation of the changing roles and social characteristics of Canadian women as well as contribute to the development of policies concerning the status of women in Canada.

Developed through a collaborative process with CRIAW’s partners for the Embracing the Complexity of Women’s Lives Project, with financial support from the Women’s Program, Status of Women Canada.  Shaped through ideas expressed through CRIAW’s workshops and focus groups, which explored the practical applications of intersectionality in relation to policy, programs and services, research, and community education. Written in plain language and offers practical suggestions and tools for applying this perspective within social justice and community organizations.

Provides an overview of gender disparities and mental health, gender specific risk factors, gender bias and women’s mental health.