Gender and Health Inequalities 1

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2008:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

The course will focus on understanding health, health inequalities and women and men's health within social, cultural, economic and political contexts. Inequalities in the health and illness by gender, socio-economic position and ethnicity over the lifecourse will be described. Students will be introduced to a multilevel conceptual framework for understanding these inequalities. The framework will place emphasis on population-based approaches to health illness, the importance of socio-economic position, poverty, employment and work and interactions between these domains.

Subject Objectives: On completion of the subjects students are expected to have a:

• Detailed knowledge of how experiences of health and illness vary by gender, socio-economic position and ethnicity over the lifecourse
• Sophisticated understanding of a social model of health with emphasis on population-based approaches and gender, socio-economic position, poverty, employment and work.

On completion of the subject students will:

• be apply a social model of health to critically analyse important women's health issues;
• demonstrate advanced skills in critical analysis; and
• have strong written and oral communication skills

Selected readings will be available.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• critically appraise evidence
• ability to develop sustain and interpret an argument
• well developed oral and written communication skills
• well developed skills in searching bibliographic data bases and synthesising evidence

This subject is a Group 1 elective in the Master of Public Health.

Subject Coordinators: Associate Professor Anne Kavanagh