English > About the Department > Sections > Woman and Gender

Medical Research Unit on Women and Gender

Women and Gender Research in Medicine aims to identify and investigate biological, social and psychological gender differences, the reasons for these differences, and their impact on illness and health.Our focus is mainly on:

• showing how gender-specific life events, social roles, psychology and biology interact with each other and influence disease and health,

• describing aspects of relations between the sexes that are oppressive or cause illness – aspects such as violence, stress and self-repression,

• establishing health-promoting factors and disease-preventing methods that consider gender distinctions such as relative physical strength and reproductive differences.

Cardiovascular disease is an example of a disease marked by significant gender differences. The differences include symptoms, triggers, biology and prognosis. Another example is the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV/AIDS), to which women from low-income communities are particularly vulnerable. Sexual identity and the unequal power and economic relationships between men and women have implications for preventive interventions and for women’s opportunities to protect themselves against these diseases.

Our research touches on many disciplines other than medicine, including pedagogy, anthropology and sociology, which is why medical research on women and gender is conducted by not only doctors but anthropologists, historians, sociologists and public health scientists too. It also explains the wide variety of research methods associated with this field.

Examples of ongoing research projects include eating disorders, abortion, medical training, the influence of sexuality in developing countries, stress, normality and disability, and ethical issues in medical technology.