Women's Health Issues
Volume 18, Issue 5 , Pages 343-346 , September 2008

Reflections on the Future of Women's Health Research in a Comparative Context: Why More Than Sex and Gender Matters

  • Arminée Kazanjian, DrSoc

      Affiliations

    • Professor, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    • Arminee Kazanjian, Dr Soc, is an internationally recognized Health Services Researcher whose work incorporates social epidemiology and health technology diffusion, social and cultural dimensions of care seeking and service provision, and health workforce policy. She is author and editor of two national multidisciplinary collaborative reports on women's health surveillance and the development and evaluation of appropriate indicators: “Women's health surveillance: a plan of action for Health Canada,” Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 1999; and the “Women's Health Surveillance Report,” Canadian Population Health Initiative and Health Canada, 2003. Also, she is the guest editor/author of a special issue of International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 20:2 (2004), on “Health technologies and the life course of women.” Her current research includes equitable and quality cancer care for culturally diverse populations, gender and healthcare utilization, women's health indicators, immigrant health and health care utilization, and understanding rural health and its determinants.
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to Arminee Kazanjian, DrSoc, The University of British Columbia, School of Population and Public Health, James Mather Building, 5804 Fairview Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3; Phone: 604-822-2772; Fax: 604-822-4994
    • ,
  • Olena Hankivsky, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Associate Professor, Public Policy Program, Co-Director, Institute for Critical Studies in Gender and Health, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
    • Olena Hankivsky, PhD, is recognized for her contributions in the use of theory (eg, intersectionality and care ethics) in research and policy applications. Her research has been published in journals such as Critical Public Health, Journal of Health and Social Policy, Critical Social Policy, International Journal of Health Services, and Policy and Society. She is also co-editor and leading contributing author of Women's Health in Canada: Critical Perspective on Theory and Policy (University of Toronto Press, 2007) which is the first text on women's health in Canada. Additionally she is the author of Social Policy and the Ethic of Care (University of British Columbia, 2004) and co-author of The Dome of Silence: Sexual Harassment and Abuse in Sport (2000, Fernwood & Zed Publications). In 2008, Dr. Hankivsky was awarded a Research Chair in New Perspectives in Gender and Health by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and a Senior Scholar Career Award in Population Health by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. Her research interests include social and health policy, gender mainstreaming, gender and sex-based analysis, health determinants, economic costing and violence against women.

Received 4 June 2008 ,Accepted 23 June 2008.

References 

  1. Advisory Committee on Women's Health Surveillance. Women's health surveillance: A plan of action for Health Canada. (Health Canada Cat. No. H49-125/1999) Ottawa: Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada; 1999;
  2. Canadian Institute for Health Information, Health Canada. Women's health surveillance report: A multidimensional look at the health of Canadian women. Ottawa: Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada; 2003;
  3. Green M. Defining Women's Health: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue. Background Draft http://www.fas.harvard.edu/womenstudy/events/proposal.htm2002;Accessed April 15, 2002
  4. Hankivsky O. Gender based analysis and health policy: The need to rethink outdated strategies. In:  Morrow M,  Hankivsky O,  Varcoe C editor. Women's health in Canada: Critical perspectives on theory and policy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press; 2007;p. 143–168
  5. Kazanjian A, Morettin D, Cho R. Health care utilization by Canadian women. BMC Women's Health. 2004;4:S33
  6. Office of Research on Women's Health. Agenda for Research on Women's Health for the 21st Century: A Report of the Task Force on the NIH Women's Health Research Agenda for the 21st Century. Vol. 1–8. (NIH Pub. No. 99-4386) Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health; 1999;
  7. Reid C, Pederson A, Dupree S. Addressing diversity in health promotion: Implications of women's health and intersectional theory. In:  O'Neill M,  Pederson A,  Dupere S, Rootman  editor. Health Promotion in Canada: Critical Perspectives. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press; 2007;p. 75–89
  8. In:  Schultz A,  Mullings L editor. Gender, race, class, and health: Intersectional approaches. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2006;
  9. Spitzer DL. Gender and sex-based analysis in health research: A guide for CIHR researchers and reviewers. Ottawa: CIHR Institute of Gender and Health; 2006;
  10. Thurston W, Vissandjée B. An ecological model for understanding culture as a determinant of women's health. Critical Public Health. 2005;15(3):229–242
  11. Varcoe C, Hankivsky O, Morrow M. Introduction: Beyond gender matters. In:  Morrow M,  Hankivsky O,  Varcoe C editor. Women's health in Canada: Critical perspectives on theory and policy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press; 2007;p. 3–30
  12. Vissandjee B, DesMeules M, Cao Z, Abdool S, Kazanjian A. Integrating ethnicity and migration as determinants of Canadian women's health. BMC Women's Health. 2004;4:S32
  13. Weber L. Reconstructing the landscape of health disparities research: Promoting dialogue and collaboration between feminist intersectional and biomedical paradigms. In:  Schultz AJ,  Mullings L editor. Gender, race, class and health: Intersectional approaches. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2006;p. 21–59
  14. Weber L, Parra-Medina D. Intersectionality and women's health: Charting a path to eliminating health disparities. Advances in Gender Research. 2003;7:181–230
  15. Women's Health Bureau. Health Canada's women's health strategy. (Health Canada Cat No. H21.138/1997) Ottawa: Ministry of Health; 1999;

PII: S1049-3867(08)00090-X

doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2008.06.002

Women's Health Issues
Volume 18, Issue 5 , Pages 343-346 , September 2008

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