Basic Concepts and Applications of Gender in One Health

1. Basic Concepts and Applications of Gender in One Health

2. Understanding Gender Gender refers to the roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that society considers appropriate for women and men. In many societies, gender differences contribute to unequal access to, control over, and benefit from resources, opportunities, and services for women and men, and this gender inequality makes it difficult for individuals to influence key decisions that affect their lives, households, communities, and societies. Gender Integration refers to strategies applied in in programmatic design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to take gender considerations into account and to compensate for gender-based inequalities. —Interagency Gender Working Group

3. Sex vs. gender

4. Graphic adapted from WHO, Why Gender and Health? • Gender roles and expectations can create a “gender gap” • Women and men experience unequal options, opportunities and realities • Inequality impacts many aspects of social and economic development

5. Why gender matters… • Addressing the risks and needs of all affected populations supports more effective disease response: better health outcomes… and economic security and well-being. • Ensure that the disease prevention, detection, and response efforts do not exacerbate existing inequalities.

6. Women (and gender) in the Ebola outbreak “Women’s involvement in the evolution of the Ebola virus” (AfDB 2016)

7. Illustrative gender considerations health care decisions and use of formal and informal services trade in food wildlife conservation exposure to violence household decision-making and control over resources livestock management participation in funeral ceremonies and burial practices caregiving for family members and friends who are ill access to information water and sanitation employment and access to markets health workforce

8. Promoting gender awareness and equity in One Health Equity Equality Sources: IGWG; Mike Tighe (La Crosse Tribune)

9. Gender Equality Continuum Source: IGWG Source: IGWG

10. Examples: animal health/vaccination programming • Example of a program/policy objective that does not integrate gender [gender blind]: ‘Develop vaccines for key diseases in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.’ • Example of an objective where gender is a significant component / the initiative seeks to address a specific gender-based constraint or opportunity [gender accommodating]: ‘Develop, test and evaluate strategies for disseminating animal health information to women farmers in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.’ • Example of an objective where gender is a principal component (i.e., initiatives where the promotion of gender equality or women’s empowerment is important, but not the primary reason for undertaking the initiative) [gender transformative]: ‘Develop vaccines for major diseases that are suitable for use by smallholders, women and marginal farmers in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.’ Source: International Livestock Research Institute

11. What would a gender-responsive One Health approach look like? Proactively targets and includes participation, perspectives, and expertise representing different gender and vulnerable/ marginalized population groups; Photo: USAID Asia/NutchanonBoonsorn

12. What would a gender-responsive One Health approach look like? • Supports the awareness, capacity, and political will of key stakeholders and decision-makers to address the role gender-related norms and barriers can play in outbreak prevention, detection, and response; and • Explicitly addresses (and measures progress on) gender considerations in preparedness and response plans and One Health strategies.

13. Key questions… • Caregiving and the informal health sector: How does outbreak surveillance and response leverage and support community health workers (CHWs) and traditional birth attendants (TBAs), in addition to formal health services? • Literacy and access to information: How are public health messages being targeted? Who is receiving information about vaccination programs? Are the media/technologies (print, internet, SMS) being used accessible to those who need the information most? • Exposure to domestic and wild animals: How do household responsibilities or workplace exposures differ among men and women? Does surveillance and outreach reflect these differences?

14. Key questions (cont’d) • Access to markets, income, and services: Do men and women have different property rights, access to credit, or control over household resources? What is the impact on women, as well as men, when a public health crisis creates changes in markets and employment? How can response plans offset negative market/financial impact for both women and men? • Pregnancy and sexual and reproductive health: Are providers prepared to identify different disease symptoms in pregnant or menstruating women? Are basic RMNCH services maintained during emergencies? Does programming account for sexual transmission by women and by men, if relevant? • Gender-based violence (GBV): Is there an increased risk of sexual violence or exploitation during emergency situations? Can women safely travel to clean water, or other essential community services and resources? Will changes in control over household resources lead to increased family violence?

15. Illustrative solutions… • Leverage existing gender analyses and guidance for country planning: align with current sectoral policies, gender and GBV guidelines, and gender situation analyses conducted by participating ministries and donor partners. • Leverage in-country expertise on gender: engage ministries of gender, women and gender equality advocates, and academics in One Health structures and planning. • Conduct community mapping before a crisis to understand how men and women differently use local infrastructure and services that are likely to be affected during an outbreak (e.g., schools, water supply, formal and informal health services). • Proactively include GBV risk mitigation strategies.

16. Illustrative solutions (cont’d) • Commit resources to sustaining essential health and community services throughout an outbreak, including RMNCH. For services that close during an outbreak (i.e. schools), encourage/incentivize both female and male engagement once the service is again available. • Plan for multi-tiered public health outreach/messaging that reflects differences in literacy and access to technology. Include community health workers and traditional birth attendants in public health messaging and response efforts. • Design compensation programs and services that specifically target those individuals (women or men) who most directly experience loss, not just “households.” • Use sex-disaggregated data to inform planning and incorporate gender considerations into evaluation/review.

17. Thank You!