Gendered Health Pathways
A groundbreaking data visualisation tool combining multiple standardised global data sources to present a clear, connected picture of the differences in men’s and women’s health journeys across the world.
What we do
Gender affects health and wellbeing at every level. It shapes the risks we face, whether we seek care, and how the health system responds when we do. Yet too many global health organisations still ignore it: fewer than half define what they mean by gender, and most still do not disaggregate their data by sex. A focus on gender is too often reduced to delivering services to women.
This wastes resources and entrenches inequality – in health outcomes for women, men, transgender and non-binary people alike. Unless organisations take a fully gender-responsive approach that transforms harmful gender norms, global health will keep failing to address a root cause of poor health for everyone.
We produce cutting-edge research and innovative data visualisations – with national and global partners – on how gender power relations shape health policy and health outcomes. We analyse policy content, disparities in disease burden, and the social and commercial determinants of health, to drive more equitable global health policy and practice.
Initiatives in this programme
Learn more about how Global 50/50 works to tackle gender inequality in health.
Sex, Gender and COVID-19 Project
The COVID-19 Data Tracker is the world’s largest database of sex-disaggregated data on COVID-19, along with the Health Policy Portal, the most comprehensive analysis of the integration of sex and gender in national COVID-19 health policies.
Lancet Commission on Gender and Global Health
The Commission, co-chaired by G5050 co-CEO Sarah Hawkes, offers bold, evidence-informed recommendations and a practical toolkit for transforming health systems to serve all people.
The Gendered Health Platform has the power to galvanise a shift in thinking and in how we collect and use data.Swarup Sarkar, Inaugural Ambassador for the Global Health Security Network, Australia
Why gender and health
Gender inequality hurts everyone. Patriarchal norms and structures shape institutions, drive poor health outcomes across all populations, and narrow the choices available to people of every gender.
Gender and biological sex are different, though they interact. Gender is not a synonym for women and girls – it encompasses people of all genders. It is socially constructed, shaped by laws, politics, communities, families and individuals, and it influences how we behave, act and feel.
The consequences of ignoring it are grave. A baby girl born today can expect to live around five years longer than a baby boy born the same day – and in some countries that gap exceeds ten years. Women and girls may live longer but spend more of those years in poor health: pregnancy and childbirth still kill around 260,000 women a year, with unsafe abortion among the leading causes.
Bringing a gender lens to health work reduces health inequities by uncovering and addressing the gendered barriers, biases and power imbalances that shape everyone’s risks, access to care, and outcomes.
Latest research & insights
Explore the latest research, analysis and insights from Global 50/50 on tackling gender inequality in health.
Updates & comments
Read the latest updates and comments from Global 50/50 on tackling gender inequality in health.
Only one of 198 global health organisations reviewed has a publicly available standalone menopause policy
Global health organisations set the standards for the world’s health. Most of those reviewed have yet to set one for menopause in the workplace, and where support exists it is mostly out of public view
Companies lead on gender policies but not on leadership, global health study finds
For-profit companies are more likely than non-profit organisations such as charities and UN agencies to have workplace policies on gender equality, yet women chair just one in seven of their boards, according to Global 50/50’s annual study of 198 organisations active in global health.
The next UN Secretary-General must deliver on gender equality
Hundreds of leaders, experts and organisations urge future UN Secretary-General to commit, act and deliver on gender equality as the United Nations faces historic test.
How our work fits together
How an institution operationalises gender – and who leads it – shapes whether it brings an equity lens to everything it does. That, in turn, shapes gender and health outcomes for people worldwide. Our three programmes follow this logic: we hold institutions to account for how they define, resource and lead on gender; we track how those choices shape gender and health outcomes; and we drive the movement that sustains the pressure, accountability and cross-sector expertise this demands – never more so than in a moment of rising backlash.
