In June, the Centre hosted a lively roundtable discussion on the concept of empowerment and its relationship to gender. Two Centre fellow's, Dr Ayesha Ahmad and Dr Lu Gram, here provide their reflections from the day, in what will be the first post of our brand new blog series. The series will explore gender and health from the multidisciplinary perspectives, looking at the various projects we work on and current debates and events as material for discussion and inspiration.

The Centre for Gender and Global Health was delighted to host a visit this week from Dr Fariha Haseen of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dr Haseen is Associate Professor of Public Health and has been working closely with Centre staff Sarah Hawkes and Anna Purdie from the UCL Centre for Gender and Global Health on rolling out a gender assessment of BSMMU.

On the 21st June 2018, the Centre for Gender and Global Health and UCL Anthropology will be holding a roundtable discussion on Subaltern and Critical Perspectives on Gender and Empowerment, open to colleagues from across UCL, Bloomsbury Universities and Colleges working on Gender and Health /Development to join us for an opportunity to share critical ideas about gender and empowerment within our own research, followed a drink and an opportunity for informal discussion about potential future collaborations.

On 25th May voters in the Republic of Ireland will be given an opportunity to repeal their current abortion laws – which currently essentially give unborn foetuses and pregnant women equal rights – which are among some of the most restrictive in the world. In 2017 Dr Jayne Kavanagh, Principal Teaching Fellow at UCL Medical School, and colleagues from UCL, produced a film to commemorate 50 years since the 1967 Abortion Act in the UK – an Act which legalised abortion in the UK (although not in Northern Ireland). In recognition of the historic vote on May 25th, the UCL Centre for Gender and Global Health will be showing Jayne’s film followed by a Q&A session with Jayne and her fellow film-makers.

As part of our speaker series Dr Ellie Cosgrave from UCL's Department of Science, Technology, Engineering & Public Policy (STEaPP) will be speaking on #SmearforSmear: how gender stereotypes and sexual violence myths combine to restrict access to basic healthcare, and what can be done about it. All are welcome.

A seminar hosted jointly by UCL's Institute for Global Health, Centre for Gender and Global Health and UCL Disability and Development research group. All welcome but please register so we know how many to expect. There will be 3 or 4 presentations by people with or without disabilities and with varied international experiences and perspectives, talking about how gender, disability and sexuality intersect, followed by discussion.

In this talk,PhD students and Early Career Researchers from universities all over London will come together to discuss the urgent importance of viewing research from a gender lens and provide practical tips for how this can be accomplished in practice. By encouraging an interdisciplinary conversation on the role of gender in academia and beyond, we hope to inspire and motivate researchers to apply a gender lens to their own research.

The Global Health 50/50 Report has launched! Watch the recording of the launch event, explore the data and read the report at www.globalhealth5050.org.

You are warmly invited to attend the launch of the inaugural Global Health 50/50 Report on March 8th 2018, International Women’s Day, from 18.30-19.45 at University College London, hosted by the UCL Centre for Gender and Global Health. Global Health 50/50 is a new initiative, led by Professor Sarah Hawkes and Dr Kent Buse with the guidance of a distinguished Advisory Council, created with the aim of advancing accountability and action for gender equality in global health. The launch will be the first in a series of global launches including New Delhi and Geneva.

Difficult Dialogues is an annual forum examining issues of contemporary relevance in South Asia. UCL and the Centre for Gender and Global Health are joining Difficult Dialogues 2018 as knowledge partners to focus on how Indian gender constructs affect fundamental aspects of daily lives and citizenship through three panel discussions exploring issues of gender and masculinity.

We are delighted to announce that on March 8th, on International Women’s Day, the UCL Centre for Gender and Global Health will be launching the inaugural report of Global Health 50/50 at University College London. Global Health 50/50 is a new initiative created with the aim of advancing accountability and action for gender equality in global health. The launch will take place in the Kennedy Lecture Theatre, UCL, from 6.30 - 8.00 pm on the 8th March.

On 20 January, IGH's Dr Geordan Shannon was recognised by the Australia Day Foundation for her contribution to the field of global health. At a gala dinner at Australia House, London, Dr Shannon was awarded Young Australian of the Year in the UK, in recognition of her work in indigenous and rural health in particular. A Research Fellow working within UCL's Centres for Gender and Global Health and Global Health Economics, Dr Shannon's recent projects include cervical cancer screening and domestic violence prevention in the Peruvian Amazon, medical work in Australian bush hospitals, and addressing complex social issues amongst homeless indigenous Australians. Dr Shannon is also co-founder of Global Health Disrupted, an organisation that brings together arts and academia for global health.

On December 11th, The UCL Centre for Gender and Global Health, in collaboration with the Global Advisory Board (GAB) for Sexual Health and Wellbeing and Durex™ hosted an interactive panel disussion on Sexual Pleasure and Human Rights. You can watch the full recording of the event here.

On December 11th, The UCL Centre for Gender and Global Health, in collaboration with the Global Advisory Board (GAB) for Sexual Health and Wellbeing and Durex™, are organising an interactive panel discussion on human rights and sexual pleasure from a multi-disciplinary perspective, in conjunction with Human Rights Day. It will be an interactive discussion among the panelists and the audience.

What would a more strategic and coordinated approach to supporting countries to ensure that people not only survive but that populations can prevent disease and stay healthy was the question which brought together a diverse global group of health and development specialists. The Centre for Gender and Global Health was delighted to host the participants, and here our Director Professor Hawkes shares some reflections from the day.

A lunchtime lecture was held with panel members from different parts of the globe dialling in to discuss how honour can be harmful. Here, Asma Ashraf from the Centre for Gender and Global Health provides a summary and some reflections from the event.

On November 8th the CGGH speaker series is honoured to hold a special format event in the form of a panel discussion, featuring a fantastic line of up speakers with a diverse and exciting range of expertise.The speakers will explore 'honour', a concept that exists in communities across the globe and should support people. However words such as dishonour and shame are often used to control people, in particular girls and women. A panel of experts will discuss how honour can become harmful. The topics to be discussed include forced marriage, honour based violence, honour killings, sati, vani, gang and tribal violence against girls and women.

For the second lunchtime seminar in our speaker series, we will be joined by Dr Rita Segato from the Universidade Brasilia, one of Latin America's most celebrated feminist anthropologists, who will be presenting on History and patriarchal violence. The event is open to anyone wishing to attend.

After the success of our launch day in February and the exciting discussion and debate that took place, the Centre is delighted to announce that it has launched its new monthly speaker series, featuring a series of guest speakers presenting lectures and roundtable discussions with the aim of exploring and debating a diverse range of topics around Gender and Global Health. The events are open to anyone wishing to attend, and details of the speakers and dates will be available both on the website, via our mailing list and through our twitter @UCLGenderHealth.

You are warmly invited to attend the Centre for Gender and Global Health’s Inaugural Speaker Series event on Tuesday 3rd October 2017 at the Institute for Global Health. To start our monthly series, we are thrilled to be hosting Dr Melanie Jansen, visiting Clinical Ethics Fellow at the Greater Ormond Street Hospital. Dr Jansen is an Australian medical doctor and Advanced Trainee in Paediatrics and Paediatric Intensive Care.

31 August 2017

All the latest publications and resources from the Gender Centre can be found on the Comms & Dissemination page. Recent additions include a new EU learning resource on Gender and Health Systems co-written by Prof Hawkes, and a new article from fellow Jenevieve Mannell and Prof Hawkes arguing that decriminalisation of GBV is a global health issue.

20 June 2017

Reflections from a gender perspective from Dr Ayesha Ahmad, a fellow from the Centre for Gender and Global Health, on Victims of Human Trafficking: A Multidisciplinary Problematization of a Category. The event took place on 7th June, hosted by the Institute of Advanced Studies and partnered with the Centre for Gender and Global Health, with a focus on tackling the category of human trafficking victims from a multidisciplinary critical perspective.

This event, hosted by the Institute of Advanced Studies and partnered with the Centre for Gender and Global Health, aims to tackle the category of human trafficking victims from a multidisciplinary critical perspective by bringing together experts who approach human trafficking both from different disciplines within the academy (history, legal sciences, medical sciences, human geography, anthropology) and from different positions outside it (frontline aid service providers, independent consultants, international organizations).

Deadline: 22 May 2017
UCL in partnership with DB Peru is working on a new project funded by the ‘Sexual Violence Research Initiative/ World Bank Group Development Marketplace for Innovation on Gender Based Violence Prevention’. We are undertaking an international review of evidence relating to participatory methodologies used to engage communities in preventing gender-based violence against women and girls. We would be grateful if you could forward us information about documents and/or related materials on participatory work in research or consultation on gender-based violence on women and girls (or related subjects). To share examples of work or if you have any further questions about this work, please contact: Nicole Minckas: [email protected] .

Dr Jenevieve Mannell and Dr Geordan Shannon have been awarded a grant from the World Bank Sexual Violence Research Initiative to undertake a participatory action research program to explore the processes that Amazonian communities use to address gender-based violence. The project will focus on developing a context-relevant community-based intervention to prevent GBV in the Amazon Basin of Peru, with a particular focus on reducing violence against women and girls.

On Tuesday 14th March from 6pm – 7.30pm, to mark International Women's Day, the APPMG on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases is hosting a parliamentary event on the the role and impact of gender in malaria and NTD control efforts. Centre Director Professor Sarah Hawkes will be presenting at the meeting to provide an overview on considerations of gender in global health policies and programmes.

More information on the launch day, including a summary of the discussions, livestream recordings of the panel sessions, photographs from the day and the presentations given by the panellists.

More information on the speakers and panellists participating on the launch day on Thursday 16th February, including a selection of background publications and resources relating to the panel discussions