Addressing discrimination against women and girls is critical to achieving UHC. Efforts in support of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) must focus on reaching those most often left behind, such as marginalized, stigmatized and geographically isolated people of all sexes and gender identities, with a special focus on those in situations of increased vulnerability, including poor people, persons with disabilities and racialized and indigenous peoples. Gender inequality hinders progress to fulfill everyone’s right to health. It seeks to ensure that every person, regardless of gender or sex, can live a healthy life. The Organization is committed to non-discrimination and to leaving no-one behind. The work of WHO is aligned with and supports the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, and SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Consequently, they are at higher risk of HIV and mental health problems, including suicide. Rigid gender norms also negatively affect people with diverse gender identities, who often face violence, stigma and discrimination as a result, including in healthcare settings. They can also have grave implications for their mental health. Such gender norms also contribute to boys and men perpetrating violence – as well as being subjected to violence themselves. For example, specific notions of masculinity may encourage boys and men to smoke, take sexual and other health risks, misuse alcohol and not seek help or health care. Harmful gender norms – especially those related to rigid notions of masculinity – can also affect boys and men’s health and wellbeing negatively. WHO figures show that about 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Women and girls also face unacceptably high levels of violence rooted in gender inequality and are at grave risk of harmful practices such as female genital mutilation, and child, early and forced marriage. These barriers include restrictions on mobility lack of access to decision-making power lower literacy rates discriminatory attitudes of communities and healthcare providers and lack of training and awareness amongst healthcare providers and health systems of the specific health needs and challenges of women and girls.Ĭonsequently, women and girls face greater risks of unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections including HIV, cervical cancer, malnutrition, lower vision, respiratory infections, malnutrition and elder abuse, amongst others. Women and girls often face greater barriers than men and boys to accessing health information and services. Gender inequality and discrimination faced by women and girls puts their health and well-being at risk. Health services should be affordable, accessible and acceptable to all, and they should be provided with quality, equity and dignity. The way that health services are organized and provided can either limit or enable a person’s access to healthcare information, support and services, and the outcome of those encounters. Gender influences people’s experience of and access to healthcare. Gender identity refers to a person’s deeply felt, internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond to the person’s physiology or designated sex at birth. Gender and sex are related to but different from gender identity. Gender interacts with but is different from sex, which refers to the different biological and physiological characteristics of females, males and intersex persons, such as chromosomes, hormones and reproductive organs.

This is referred to as intersectionality. Gender-based discrimination intersects with other factors of discrimination, such as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, age, geographic location, gender identity and sexual orientation, among others. Gender is hierarchical and produces inequalities that intersect with other social and economic inequalities. As a social construct, gender varies from society to society and can change over time. This includes norms, behaviours and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl or boy, as well as relationships with each other. Gender refers to the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed.

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