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Gender Matters: Shining a spotlight on the different health needs of women and men

Published: Monday, March 31, 2014

National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) today held a seminar to spotlight the different needs faced by men and women when it comes to health service planning and delivery and called on the HSE to adopt gender mainstreaming measures. Three resources highlighting why gender matters in the health services were launched at the seminar. Keynote speakers included Dr. Noreen Shields, Planning and Development Manager, Corporate Inequalities Team, National Health Service, Glasgow, Scotland as well as Dr. Jane Pillinger, Gender Mainstreaming Expert, Mr. Eddie Ward, Health Services Executive and Dr Mark Murphy, Lecturer Royal College of Surgeons and General Practitioner

At the seminar Noreen Shields said;
“Put simply, whether you are a man, a women or a transgender person, the way you experience illness and health services are different. In order for the health services to become more responsive to the needs of women and transgender people, a gender perspective must be integrated into health service planning and delivery. As it stands, patterns of health risk are unequal, as are access to health services and health outcomes.”

Rachel Doyle Head of Development and Outreach at NWCI noted;
“Generally women and men have different experiences of cardiovascular health in treatment, diagnosis and health outcomes.  Gender stereotyping and a lack of awareness of female symptoms may explain why women have significantly higher rates of death following a heart attack.    A startling fact highlighted in our publications is that in the 15–24 year age group, the male death rate is more than three times that of the female death rate. This can be in part due to socially ascribed roles for men which may make it difficult to acknowledge and discuss health problems. Men’s gender roles often mean that they are less likely than women to seek health advice, discuss their health problems or to visit a GP”. 

Noreen Shields concluded,
A greater awareness of gender can help to change attitudes, behaviours and practices that are potentially harmful to women’s men’s and transgender people’s health, with the purpose of reducing health risks for different groups of people.”

Ends/
For more information, please contact Sarah Clarkin, Communications Officer, National Women’s Council of Ireland, Tel. 085 858 9104

Note to the editor:

NWCI received funding from the HSE to support the implementation of gender mainstreaming. This work has been overseen by a Gender Mainstreaming Advisory Group (with representatives from the HSE, NWCI, Men’s Development Network, Men’s Health Forum, Institute of Public Health, Irish Cancer Society, the IMNO, Equality Authority, Cairde and Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre). The project involved pilot projects in mental health and primary care, developing training materials on gender mainstreaming and producing awareness-raising materials.