In this innovative collection, leading thinkers in clinical medicine, sociology, epidemiology, kinesiology, education, and public policy reveal how health promotion is failing communities by failing women. Despite a longstanding consensus that social inequalities shape global patterns of illness and opportunities for health, mainstream health promotion frameworks continue to ignore gender at relational, household, community, and state levels. Exploring the ways in which gendered norms affect health and social equity for all human beings, Making It Better invites us to rethink conventional approaches to health promotion and to strive for transformative initiatives and policies. Offering practical tools and evidence-based strategies for moving from gender integration to gender transformation, this anthology is required reading for policymakers, health promotion and healthcare practitioners, researchers, community developers, and social service providers.
Forword, Marilyn Beaumont Preface Acknowledgements Introduction: Raising the Bar on Women’s Health Promotion, Lorraine Greaves
Part 1 Chapter 1: Envisioning Gender-Transformative Health Promotion, Ann Pederson, Nancy Poole, Lorraine Greaves, Julieta Gerbrandt, and Mei Lan Fang Chapter 2: Power and Empowerment in Health Promotion for Women, Pamela Ponic, Lorraine Greaves, Ann Pederson, and Lynne Young Chapter 3: Diversifying Health Promotion, Colleen Reid, Ann Pederson, and Sophie Dupéré
Part 2 Chapter 4: Igniting Global Tobacco Control, Natalie Hemsing and Lorraine Greaves Chapter 5: Recalculating Risk: An Opportunity for Gender-Transformative Alcohol Education for Girls and Women, Lauren Bialystok, Nancy Poole, Lorraine Greaves, and Gerald Thomas Chapter 6: Promoting the Mental Health of Immigrant Women by Transforming Community Physical Activity, Donna S. Lee, Wendy Frisby, and Pamela Ponic Chapter 7: Pioneering Women-Centred Heart Health Promotion, Ann Pederson, Mona Izadnegahdar, Karin H. Humphries, and Lynne Young Chapter 8: Housing, Violence, and Women’s Health: Addressing the Social Determinants of Health in Health Promotion, Pamela Ponic and Jill Atkey Chapter 9: Illuminating Gender-Transformative Mental Health Promotion in the Workplace, Paola Ardiles, Kathy GermAnn, and Farah Mawani Chapter 10: Rethinking Preconception and Maternal Health: A Prime Opportunity for Gender-Transformative Health Promotion, Lauren Bialystok, Lorraine Greaves, and Nancy Poole
Part 3 Chapter 11: Provoking Gender-Transformative Health Promotion, Nancy Poole, Judie Bopp, and Lorraine Greaves Chapter 12: Creating Lasting Change: Advocacy for Gender-Transformative Health Promotion, Petra Begnell and Rose Durey Chapter 13: Promoting Women’s Hospitals as a Site for Change, Lorraine Greaves and Elizabeth Whynot Chapter 14: Taking a Stand: A Gender-Transformative Approach to Preventing Violence against Women, Rose Durey Chapter 15: Catalyzing Gender-Transformative Health Promotion, Lorraine Greaves
Afterword, Helen Keleher Contributor Biographies
Biography
Lorraine Greaves is Senior Investigator at the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health.
Ann Pederson is the Director of Population Health Promotion at BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre. She worked for over 17 years at the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health and is currently completing a doctorate at the University of British Columbia in sex, gender, and health promotion.
Nancy Poole is Director of Research and Knowledge Translation at the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health in Vancouver.
“Making It Better breaks new ground in health promotion. It is an essential tool for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners working to improve the health of their communities. Amid dire warnings of unsustainable demands and spiraling costs in health service delivery, Making It Better is a welcome voice offering a fresh health promotion approach to improving health outcomes. In addition, it is a timely exposé of product marketing and advertising, which contributes to so many of our modern-day chronic illnesses. It promises pathways to better health for women, girls, and ultimately for all.” — Kelly Banister, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Women’s Health Network
“This book provides a refreshing and interesting look at health promotion…. It brings together the Canadian and Australian contexts, the determinants of health, and feminist theory and ideology, which makes it unique.” — Joyce Engel, Associate Professor of Nursing, Brock University
