Gender and global health governance

Global health governance includes the multiple types and agendas of actors involved in the global health landscape. To date, gender has only been superficially included in global health governance, often in relation to certain issue areas - such as maternal and sexual and reproductive health, women’s leadership and gender mainstreaming. Where gender is considered, it is through select channels of analysis, such as feminist global health security of feminist political economy. A discussion of the empirical and theoretical focus on gender currently present within the global health governance literature reveals what is missing, and proposes alternative areas for empirical engagement, including financing of global health governance; the interaction between gender with the broader socio-economic effects of health; and the need for greater consideration of men and LGBTIQ needs. We propose theoretical broadening to consider innovative methods for gender analysis in global health governance, intersectional analysis and decolonizing global health.