Gender Studies for Health Professionals

It is generally accepted that early gender socialization is one of the most pertinent issues in early childhood, affecting both boys and girls. The foundations for stereotypes in gender roles are laid through early gender socialization.

Simply put, gender stereotypes are generalizations about the roles of each gender. Gender roles are generally neither positive nor negative; they are simply inaccurate generalizations of the male and female attributes. ...

This interactive module is part of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+); an analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and non-binary people may experience policies, programs and initiatives. The “plus” in GBA+ acknowledges that GBA+ goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences. We all have multiple identity factors that intersect to make us who we are; GBA+ also considers many other identity factors, such as race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

The following definitions are adapted from The Gender Integration Framework from the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Definitions have also been provided by Government of Canada’s LGBTQ2 Secretariat.

A teaching tool for breaking the big concept of gender down into bite-sized, digestible pieces.

This chapter both explains the concepts of sex and gender and discusses why and how sex and gender matter to public health. It describes and broadly examines the ways in which sex and gender interact with other determinants of health and how they influence health behaviours and outcomes. ..

Sexual orientation refers to sexual and romantic feelings for people of the same gender, a different gender, or more than one gender. People who identify their sexual orientation as “straight” or “heterosexual” typically feel attracted to people of a different gender than themselves. ...