The objective of this research was to explore midwives’ experiences working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia, Canada. It is a qualitative study involving three semi-structured focus groups and four in-depth interviews with 13 midwives. The research took place during the COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia, Canada from 2020-2021. Qualitative analysis surfaced […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted women and vulnerable groups, magnifying existing gender inequalities. To prevent inequalities from further widening, countries must urgently address and mitigate the gendered impacts of the pandemic. In this report, we outline the gendered impacts of the pandemic in Kenya, summarise measures taken by the Kenyan government to address these […]
Abstract Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as measures have been taken to both prevent the spread of COVID-19 and provide care to those who fall ill, healthcare workers have faced added risks to their health and wellbeing. These risks are disproportionately felt by women healthcare workers, yet health policies do not always take a gendered approach. Background Objectives […]
Abstract Objective To explore how gender influences the way community health workers (CHWs) are managed and supported and the effects on their work experiences. Setting Two districts in three fragile countries. Sierra Leone—Kenema and Bonthe districts; Liberia—two districts in Grand Bassa county one with international support for CHW activities and one without: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—Aru […]
Safeguarding is rapidly rising up the international development agenda, yet literature on safeguarding in related research is limited. This paper shares processes and practice relating to safeguarding within an international research consortium (the ARISE hub, known as ARISE). ARISE aims to enhance accountability and improve the health and well-being of marginalised people living and working […]
Gender is often neglected in health systems, yet health systems are not gender neutral. Within health systems research, gendered analysis seeks to understand how gender power relations create inequities in access to resources, the distribution of labour and roles, social norms and values, and decision-making. This paper synthesises findings from nine studies focusing on four […]
This brief describes how RinGs worked with the ReBUILD Research Programme Consortium to stimulate and embed gendered research within the partnership. It includes detail on how the collaboration fostered new ways of knowing and framing problems in health systems research. How it provided channels of capacity development on gender and intersectionality analysis. How it influenced policy and […]
This commentary accompanies a paper by Tamblyn and colleagues that presents evidence from a cross-sectional study that shows the presence of gender bias in the grant peer review process in Canadian health research funding. Notably, female applicants with past grant success rates equivalent to male applicants were given lower application scores by reviewers, and male […]
Close-to-community (CTC) providers have been identified as a key cadre to progress universal health coverage and address inequities in health service provision due to their embedded position within communities. CTC providers both work within, and are subject to, the gender norms at community level but may also have the potential to alter them. This paper […]
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…