Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108943

Barbara Gottlieb, MD, MPH, Brookside Community Health Center, 3297 Washington Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, 617 522-4700, bgottlieb@partners.org and Corrine M. Williams, ScM, Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard University, School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, 7th Floor, Boston, MA 02115.

Few in public health would question “socially constructed gender characteristics are … important in shaping the capacity of both women and men to realize their potential for health.” (Doyal) However, public health lags behind other disciplines in developing a comprehensive agenda for introducing a gender perspective into practice, research and teaching.

In 1996, students, faculty and staff convened a working group (WG) to advance the study of women, gender and health at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). Based on surveys of students and faculty and a review of courses and research at HSPH, the WG identified the need to infuse a gender perspective throughout the curriculum and to develop a focused academic program for those who wanted to pursue scholarship, teaching and practice with an explicit gender perspective. In 2002, the Interdisciplinary Concentration in Women, Gender and Health was approved. We have developed a full sequence of courses including introductory, advanced core and elective courses, and a yearlong extracurricular speaker series.

The following principles guide our activities: -Gender perspective that recognizes diversity and inequality among women — and men — in relation to race/ethnicity, nationality, class, sexuality, and age, and that protection of human rights is fundamental to health - Collaborative leadership model between students and faculty - Interdepartmental collaboration - Pedagogy that enhances gender perspective in practice, scholarship and research

We will present the history of the Interdisciplinary Concentration in WGH, focusing on the lessons learned in: Interdepartmental collaboration Institutional activism Student participation and leadership Best pedagogical practices

Learning Objectives:

• Those who attend will learn lessons and principles of how a school of public health created a new program and will be able to apply these in their own institutions
• Those who attend will learn the importance of student-faculty collaboration in developing a new program in women, gender and health
• Those who attend will learn successful pedagogical practices in teaching gender in a school of public health

Keywords: Gender, Curricula

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation