Global Health and Gender: what Levers to reduce Inequalities?

The end of 2025 is marked by numerous international highlights related to global health and the fight for gender equality, such as the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Conference (4–15 September 1995), the fourth and most important world conference on women, which consolidated 50 years of legal progress aimed at ensuring equality between women and men. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence will be held, as every year, from 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) to 10 December (International Human Rights Day), while the 8th replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria will enable countries to come together to establish funding for the global fight against the three diseases, but also to join in the momentum of World AIDS Day on 1 December.

Although undeniable progress has been made in global health over the past few decades, inequalities between men and women persist. Recent pandemics, as well as structural issues within health systems, highlight that health issues are never neutral but are always rooted in social, economic and cultural relationships that impact women, men and gender minorities differently.

Very often, women face structural barriers that can limit their access to health services: restrictive social norms, domestic responsibilities, financial dependence, gender-based violence. Men, meanwhile, may be exposed to other social factors: norms of masculinity that discourage them from seeking care, increased exposure to various occupational risks, or dangerous behaviours encouraged by certain perceptions of masculinity.

These factors have very real consequences for the health of both women and men: