Multicultural Perspectives on Health and Wellbeing/Gender and sexual diversity

A full length frontal figure divided in half, one half representing a man and the other a woman

Preamble

What do we mean when we say ‘engendering health’ or a gender perspective on health? While it is generally recognised that wealth and high socio-economic position encourages good health outcomes, there is still a need for health professionals at large to understand the widespread and profound implication of gender-based inequity. Engendering health means taking a holistic, whole of society approach to understand the ways in which systems and processes of power, oppression and marginalisation come together to impact on men and women’s health outcomes. As an additional layer of analysis, it is important to go beyond gender to understand how other identities such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, intersects with gender to influence people’s experience in life. This is known as intersectionality theory.

Resources

Caperchione, C., Kolt, G., Tennent, R., & Mummery, W. (2011). Physical activity behaviours of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) women living in Australia: A qualitative study of socio-cultural influences. BMC Public Health, 11(1), 26.

Association for Women’s Rights in Development. (2004). Intersectionality: A tool for Gender and economic justice (Vol. 9). Toronto: Association for Women’s Rights in Development.

Fisher, C., Hunt, L., Adamsam, R., & Thurston, W. E. (2007). ‘Health's a difficult beast’: The interrelationships between domestic violence, women's health and the health sector: An Australian case study. Social Science & Medicine, 65(8), 1742-1750. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.05.047

Ghafournia, N. (2011). Battered at home, played down in policy: Migrant women and domestic violence in Australia. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 16(3), 207-213. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2011.02.009

Fildes, D., Cass, Y., Wallner, F., & Owen, A. (2010). Shedding light on men: the Building Healthy Men Project. Journal of Men's Health, 7(3), 233-240.

Morgan, M., Hayes, R., Williamson, M., & Ford, C. (2007). Men's Sheds: A Community Approach to Promoting Mental Health and Well-being. International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 9(3), 48-52. doi: 10.1080/14623730.2007.9721842

Videos

Video playlist compiled by Sabrina Gupta

Omar Musa and hip hop culture: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/what-drives-hip-hop-poetry/5631796

Websites

Multicultural Centre for Women's Health, http://www.mcwh.com.au/

Notes and Recordings

Copies to the LMS after the event