This Reader brings together case studies from the small grants programme. These studies explore some of the core spheres of health systems research: care-seeking; financing and contracting; governance; human resources; and service delivery with a gender lens. Each case study in this Reader demonstrates the importance of using a gender analysis in health systems research. This analysis enabled the researchers to explore new ways of looking at the world around them, it built new skills, and it led to some unexpected findings. It also demonstrates how such an approach can be applied in practice. We hope that this Reader will be of interest to established health systems researchers who are interested in how they can integrate gender into their work. It could also be a tool used in capacity development interventions or in university teaching courses to prompt learners to consider the usefulness of a gendered approach or to think through how to apply theoretical concepts of gender, intersectionality and ethics in practice.

By Rosemary Morgan and Kate Hawkins

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