• Kristen W. Springer, H&SS Cohort 6
  

The Gender and Health Working Group (GHWG) was initiated by Kristen W. Springer (HSS Cohort 6) and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholars Program at Columbia University to foster cross-disciplinary critical approaches to sex and gender as determinants of population health. Extensive research has explored biological/physical causes of sex differences in health outcomes.  Simultaneously, social scientists have documented gendered health outcomes based on social norms, rules, and expectations for men and women leading to health differences both between and among men and women.  However – for the most part – these different perspectives have remained within their disciplinary silos.   The working group strives to reach across these silos to advance theory and evidence on the intersecting social and biological factors that produce health outcomes patterned by sex and gender.  

The GHWG meets monthly for discussions about core gender and health topics including, but not limited to: 1) how to measure and understand gender without reverting to binaries, 2) the political and ideological issues of including biology and genetics into social scientific research on gender and health, 3) examining gender and health in an intersectional framework, and 4) comparing gender and health research across the U.S./Canadian border.  These monthly meetings will form the foundation for a national conference and special journal issue that will showcase the results of the GHWG's activities.