1. Stronger health systems. Greater health impact.
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2. Definition of Gender
Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors,
activities, and attributes that a given society considers
appropriate for men and women. – WHO
Gender equality in health means that women and men
have equal conditions for realizing their full rights and
potential to be healthy, contribute to health development,
and benefit from the results.
– Pan American Health Organization, Gender Equality
Policy
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3. A Strategic Framework for Gender in the
Leadership, Management, and Governance
Project
o Today’s Webinar
o Overview of the conditions of women working
within health systems
o Strategic approaches for mainstreaming
gender into LMG projects
o Exploring new approaches to gender
mainstreaming
o Highlighting the intersection between gender
and governance
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4. Gender-related Challenges for Women as
Health Care Providers
o Women are less likely to:
o Hold decision-making and leadership
positions
o Women are more likely to:
o Face discrimination based on marital status
o Be expected to conform to male work models
o Be subjected to violence and harassment
while working
o Be employed in low- and entry-level positions
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5. Strategic Approaches for Mainstreaming
Gender into LMG Projects
o Examine the health sector work environment
o Raise awareness among both men and women to
break negative patterns of gender inequity
o Link gender equity to better health outcomes for all
o Build women’s capacity to lead, manage, and
govern
o Utilize gender as a cross-cutting theme
o Build the evidence base to support gender
mainstreaming
o Analyze governance structure to identify
opportunities and challenges
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6. Objectives of the LMG Project
Training & Capacity Of men and women to have core
competencies in gender in order to
Building decrease biases and stereotypes
and promote gender interventions
that can change institutional and
organizational behavior
Research and Knowledge Research on evidence
demonstrating the benefits of
Exchange promoting leadership and
management for women (both to
increase the numbers and empower
women) for better health outcomes
Advocacy and Create partnerships with existing
regional and global networks that
Partnerships promote women’s leadership and
management and adapt it to the
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7. Alignment of LMG Project with Global
Mandates
“Investing in the health of women, adolescents, and girls is
not only the right think to do; it is also the smart thing to do.
That is why we are integrating women‟s issues as elements
of our foreign policy agendas and in, especially, the Global
Health Initiative…”
--Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Remarks on the 15th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, January 8, 2010
o GHI: Focus on Women and Girls
o MDGs: Goal 3, 4, 5, and 8
o PEPFAR: Focus on violence
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8. LMG Literature Review: Recommendations
o Disaggregate data by gender
o Increase access to pre-service and in-service education
and training
o Review recruitment policies and practices
o Focus on
o Gender equity in managerial and decision making roles
o Compensation equity
o Gender differentials in constructing incentive structures to
promote retentions and productivity
o Protect the workplace climate, including combatting
sexual harassment and gender-based violence
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9. LMG Framework for Mainstreaming Gender
WHO Recommendations for
LMG Strategy to Promote and Mainstream LMG Strategy toto Promote and
LMG Strategy Promote and
Strengthening L&M
Gender Mainstream Gender
Mainstream Gender
• Ensure adequate numbers of Ensure a gender balance in management
managers and leadership positions
Include gender awareness and
• Ensure managers who have
appropriate competencies
understanding as core competency of
managers and leaders
• Create better critical Create management support systems
management support systems that are gender sensitive
Create an enabling environment that
• Create an enabling
environment is safe for women and provides
support for leadership
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10. Governance cannot be effective unless it
has gender equality at its center
Governance must lead to a more equitable world, where
women also have choices and their rights are realized. It
cannot be effective if there is no understanding of the
differing needs of women and men in public spending,
policies and legislation. Nor can it be effective if women
cannot exercise their right to participate equally in the
decisions that affect their lives. In short governance
cannot be effective or “good” unless it is gender
sensitive. (UNIFEM 2003
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11. Relationship Between Good Governance and
Gender Equity
“Governance cannot be effective or „good‟
unless it is gender sensitive.”
-- UNIFEM, 2003
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12. Gender and LMG Principles
Employment and Compensation
Work-Life Balance and Career Development
Health, Safety, and Freedom from Violence
Management and Governance
Business, Supply chain, and Marketing practices
Civil and Community Engagement
Transparency and Accountability
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13. Gender and LMG
Case studies
o Health Extension Program, Ethiopia
o Capacity Project, South Africa
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14. Case Study: Health Extension Program,
Ethiopia
o Innovative leadership and management initiative
focusing on training health extension workers (HEW) to
reach underserved populations
o Trained to:
o Manage operations of health posts
o Conduct home visits and outreach
o Refer patients to health centers
o Train volunteers
o Survey communities and villages using standardized tools
o Draft health plans
o Focus on:
o Community ownership
o HEW work translated into positive health outcomes
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15. Case Study: Men as Care Providers in Lesotho
o The USAID-funded Capacity Project:
o Focused on planning, developing and supporting the
health workforce
o Assisted the MOH in strengthening its capacity to respond
to the HIV/AIDS pandemic by
o Understanding the gendered division of labor
o Identifying gender redistributive approaches to recruit, train,
support, and retain men in jobs traditionally considered the
province of women
o Women generally occupy lower level cadres, usually in the
informal care economy
o Training can mitigate negative stereotypes
“Gender redistribution” results in improved health
outcomes.
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16. Thank you!
Questions?
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17. Stronger health systems. Greater health impact.
Saving lives and improving the health
of the world‟s poorest and most vulnerable people
by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public
health.
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