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Introduction

Bringing Gender to the Heart of Health Policy, Practice and Research

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The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Healthcare

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Abstract

Gender is known to be strongly associated with health status and to exert a significant influence upon help-seeking and the delivery of healthcare, but it has been a relatively low policy priority for many governments and also within the health professions until very recently. Heightened awareness of gender equity issues and the introduction of gender mainstreaming policies have increased interest in gender in relation to health around the world. Yet the current evidence base is scattered and fragmentary. Attempts to mainstream gender into healthcare often turn out to be simplified reports of sex differences without taking account of the complex life conditions of men and women and the gendered dimensions of the organization and delivery of healthcare. Added to this, changing health policies, together with globalization and ageing societies, accelerate dynamics in healthcare systems that may affect women and men in different ways. New emerging social inequalities may create new demands on health policy-makers and health professionals that need further empirical investigation.

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Authors
  1. Ellen Kuhlmann
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  2. Ellen Annandale
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bath, UK

    Ellen Kuhlmann

  2. University of Leicester, UK

    Ellen Annandale

Copyright information

© 2012 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Kuhlmann, E., Annandale, E. (2012). Introduction. In: Kuhlmann, E., Annandale, E. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Healthcare. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137295408_1

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