Gender Checklist: Health

Gender issues in the health sector

Household activities

What is the gender division of labor among the client population? How are productive and reproductive roles (such as sexual division of labor within households, production of goods and services, and income earning) interrelated? Data should show differences in roles between older and younger women and men, and between boys and girls. In other words, who does what, where, how, when, and for how long?
What are the broad income levels of the client population? Are there differences in income between females and males?
Identify key facts about the social structure and organization (community organization, cultural perception and attitudes, marriage rules, land ownership pattern, etc.), by gender and socioeconomic status.
What services (health, education, water and infrastructure, agricultural extension, law and jus-tice) are provided in the project area and to whom? Consider differences in socioeconomic status as well as gender.
What is the legal status of women? Do women have rights to self-determination (e.g., divorce, property rights, custody of children, decisions about reproductive matters)?
Are divorced women socially stigmatized among the client population? Is sex segregation a norm? Are there restrictions on male/female interaction? Is there any reluctance on the part of women to consult male health care providers?

Health status of the project population

What are the most serious illnesses in the project area(s)? Are there gender differences in the incidence of particular diseases? What are the main causes of these illnesses (consider sanitation, diet, activity patterns)? What factors, other than reproductive, contribute to gender differences in the incidence of disease?
What are the occupational health hazards in the targeted community? Consider exposure to pesticides, harmful chemicals from textile dyeing, toxic waste materials from electronics industries, etc. Are there gender differences? Are there particular risks to pregnant or lactating women?
What is the extent of women�s workload, and are patterns of sickness among women (malnutrition, anemia, and other diseases) explained by their occupational context?
What information exists and can be collected regarding the mental health of women and men? Are there gender related differences in incidence?
What roles do women and men play in community health care?
How do women and men explain common diseases and health problems?
Who makes decisions in families about taking children to a health-care provider for treatment? Who decides whether medicine will be purchased?
Does the project mainly emphasize women�s health in terms of their role as mothers? Is there a need for a broader focus on women�s health?

Diet

What type of diet is common in the client popula-tion? Do women and men, girls and boys have different access to food?
Is food bought or grown? Are changes from sub-sistence to cash production affecting food supply or changing dietary patterns? What is the signifi-cance for the health status of women and men?
For how many months do women usually breast-feed their children? Is there a difference in the duration of breast-feeding for girl and boy chil-dren? What are the cultural attitudes toward the duration of breast-feeding? Is bottle-feeding a common practice? What socioeconomic factors contribute to decisions to bottle-feed infants?
According to cultural beliefs, is breast-feeding during preg-nancy an acceptable practice?
Are there food taboos for women during pregnancy and lactation?
Are there differential patterns of growth between boys and girls in the same age group? Different diseases? Are these differences related to differen-tial feeding patterns of girls and boys or other factors?
What is the incidence of ane-mia among pregnant women in the target population?

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Key questions and action points in the project cycle

Gender issues in reproductive health