Gender equality occurs when women and men receive the resources they need to succeed in life and recognise the diversity of disadvantage experienced by women. The process of directing resources according to this recognition to achieve equality, is the practice of equity.

WHISE and other women's health services have been advocating for gender equality for the past 25 years. The Victorian Government has publicly committed to keeping gender on the agenda through attitudinal and behavioural change. This landmark piece of legislation, along with the State’s Gender Equality Strategy, Our Equal State (2023), acknowledges that gender inequality exists across the lifespan, and it is intersectional. That is, it impacts individuals in different ways and can be compounded by other forms of discrimination and oppression.

Gender and other intersecting inequalities start before birth and accumulate and grow over time changing the trajectory of people’s lives. They also have long-term impacts over generations. Families and communities can experience intergenerational trauma, poverty and disadvantage.

Victorian Government, 2023

To challenge harmful gender norms and restructure the boarder social conditions which create gender inequality, WHISE will drive gender transformative policy and practice in the Southern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne (SMR). Gender transformative practice considers the ways in which men and women’s health are impacted by gender roles and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity.

As the name suggests, gender transformative policy and practice aims to transform unequal values, power and responsibility attached to these roles and stereotypes to improve health outcomes in our community. Like all primary prevention initiatives, these take time.

However, they have powerful impacts on population health.