Engendering is an English term which, in its “traditional” meaning, has the meaning of “to create”. In the meaning in which we use it here, it has a short history. In 2001 “Engendering Development through Gender Equality in Rights. Resources and Voice” (1) the World Bank policy research report highlights the human and development costs of gender inequality and the social benefits that can be gained by actively seeking greater gender equality. In 2002, Gita Sen, Asha George and Piroska Östlin with “Engendering International Health: The Challenge of Equity” (2) highlighted how the study of health inequalities had until then considered the determinants of health: socio-economic status and ethnicity, while neglecting gender. Several studies on health inequalities, however, show that gender and ethnicity affect health independently of other factors.

Enghea Engerdering Health works in the conviction that only a process of gender mainstreaming, an “engendering” in health and healthcare can pursue policy equity and appropriateness in care.

 (1) A World Bank Policy Research Report, Washington DC: World Bank/Oxford University Press.

(2) The MIT Press