Harvard School of Public Health

Story

History

The Working Group on Women, Gender, and Health (WGH) was founded in 1996 by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health faculty members, post-doctoral fellows, and students interested in advancing the study of women, gender, and health at the School. In 2002, the school-wide faculty approved the Interdisciplinary Concentration on WGH. This concentration is now governed by a Steering Committee comprised of faculty members, post-doctoral fellows, and students who meet monthly to discuss ways to promote curriculum development and public health research and practice regarding women, gender and health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Meetings

The Steering Committee—comprised of faculty, staff, post-doctoral fellows, and students—meets monthly. Everyone is invited to attend and a light lunch is served. In addition to discussing the administrative aspects of the concentration, there is also a pedagogical component. Students are encouraged to:
-Chair and facilitate the meetings
-Participate in all decisions needed for WGH
-Present on a topic of choice or one’s own research
-Discuss conference or independent study experiences-Meet others who share interests

Events

Each academic year, we sponsor various WGH events. Events happen monthly and generally feature a speaker/facilitator who introduces a gender-related topic of interest, followed by an engaging small-group discussion. WGH speaker events bring speakers who address a wide variety of gender-related public health research and practice issues in a small-group or larger seminar setting. All are welcome at speaker events, and meals are provided.

Conference Stipends

We sponsor student conference stipends each semester. The stipend is to support HSPH students to attend conferences: (1) to which they are submitting abstracts (oral or poster presentations) that have a clear gender component to the research, in relation to any chosen health topic or public health field, or (2) in which they have a major role in organizing aspects of the conference concerned with connections between gender and health (e.g., organize and/or moderate a session). The stipend is dispersed following the submission and approval of an Conference Stipend Application Form. Applications are due via email to [email protected] on October 1, 2012 and February 1, 2013. Stipends can cover up to $500 of expenses to be used for travel, accommodation, incidental costs, and registration for the conference. Students approved for the stipend are required to report back on their conference experience at a WGH Steering Committee meeting following the conference.

Mission

Addressing issues of women, gender, and health requires the study of the health of women and girls - and men and boys - throughout the lifecourse, with gender, gender equality, and biology understood as important and interacting determinants of well-being and disease. Also included are the study of gender and gender inequality in relation to individuals' treatment by and participation in health and medical care systems, the physical, economic, and social conditions in which they live, and their ability to promote the health of their families, their communities, and themselves. Inherent in this definition is recognition of diversity and inequality among women - and men - in relation to race/ethnicity, nationality, class, sexuality, and age, and that protection of human rights is fundamental to health.

Products

We maintain an email list to circulate meeting and event notices, both for working group activities and outside activities that are relevant to the field of women, gender, and health. To be added to this list, please complete this form: http://eepurl.com/4gEPz