[Incorporation of the gender perspective in community health. SESPAS Report 2018]

Abstract

The concepts of community health and gender perspective are often misunderstood or interpreted differently between different sectors and disciplines. For this reason, this article starts with the definition of both concepts and continues with a proposal for the incorporation of a gender perspective in community health. The gender norms determine different pathways and opportunities for people according to their sex, which are associated with gender inequalities in health and therefore must be incorporated in community health interventions. The gender perspective requires considering gender inequalities in power, in the access to and control over resources, the sexual division of labour and gender socialization in all phases of community health strategy implementation. Incorporating a gender perspective in community health is not only a matter of ethics and justice but also of the effectiveness of interventions.

Keywords: Community health; Determinantes sociales de la salud; Factores socioeconómicos; Gender; Género; Salud comunitaria; Social determinants of health; Socioeconomic factors.