From Women's Health to Gender Mainstreaming and Back Again

Abstract

This article links experience from the women's health movement to gender mainstreaming approaches and feminist agendas. The aim is to assess the options and limitations of gender mainstreaming and the links with changing governance in healthcare in western countries. From the late 1960s, the women's health movement was a forerunner of today's commonplaces of successful models of health reform. Women significantly advanced new policy approaches on user participation, a collaborative health workforce and better and safer information. This article traces these trajectories and the dynamics in healthcare systems. It argues the need for feminist agendas in order to mainstream gender approaches into health reform processes and thereby, counteract neoliberal concepts that shape health policy debates across countries. Linking the experience of the women's health movement to gender mainstreaming approaches highlights that feminist agendas contribute to a better quality of care for women and men.