In the past ten years my research has concentrated on the innovation of biomedical research practices in terms of paying attention to sex and gender aspects. This article will address thenewly gained insights and the innovative knowledge that has been produced.The innovation of ‘traditional’ biomedicine started with the women’s health movement andthe feminist critique of science in the 1980-s. Involvement with life sciences and biomedicalresearch is visible in publications as early as Alice through the Microscope by the BrightonWomen and Science group in 1980 which focused on science and women’s livesand where Alice discovered an amazingly gendered world of science!(Curran & Brighton Women andScience Group, 1980). A patriarchal science was unveiled that neglected or stereotypedwomen’s bodies, health and lives. Soon after pioneering feminist biologists like Lynda Birkeand Anne Fausto-Sterling started academic critiques of biomedicine, addressing biology andmedicine in the first place (Birke & Vines, 1987; Fausto-Sterling, 1985). The strategies theyemployed were directed towards the biomedical method itself. Both authors coulddemonstrate that the scientific method was not as objective as it was believed to be; instead,effects of gender were visible in the production of biomedical knowledge. The claim that processes of gender had an influence on the production of biomedical knowledge at the sametime opened up possibilities for change. Much knowledge that was regarded by feminists as‘biology is destiny’, turned out to be far from determinist. If taken account of the influence of gender on biomedical knowledge production, many myths about women and women’s rolescould become dismantled. Although it is a biological fact that only women can give birth to achild, in no way this is a blueprint for who (mother or father) should be charged withcaretaking during the consecutive years. Within the scope of this article a detailed historicalaccount of those 29 years of innovation is impossible and I can only refer to LondaSchiebinger who has twice produced an overview of the feminist involvement with science inher books Has Feminism changed Science and Gendered Innovations in Science and Engineering (Schiebinger, 1999, 2008). She has described the various fields in which a lot has been accomplished in those years including biomedicine. Gender Studies in biomedicinemarks the latest strand of innovative biomedical research: it focuses on gender & health, andaddresses women’s and men’s health issues in research and clinical practice.
A common principle of healthcare in the Netherlands is that everyone should receive quality care, irrespective of age, sex, sexual preference, socioeconomic circumstances or cultural background. Current efforts to reduce health differences between men and women are a direct result of this principle
Gendered Innovations” integrates sex and gender analysis into all phases of biomedical and health research to assure excellence and quality in outcomes. This article reports on the interdisciplinary, international collaboration that produced: 1) state-of-the-art methods of sex and gender analysis for health and medi-cine; and 2) case studies to illustrate how gen-der analysis leads to discovery in biomedicine and better outcomes in health research: os-teoporosis research in men, the genetics of sex determination, heart disease in women, stem cell research, animal research, nutrige-nomics and degendering knee implants. The article concludes with a short review of policy at the Canadian, US, and European institutes of health, medical curricula, and policies for peer-reviewed journals in relation to reporting sex/gender analysis in research
UNESCO has just launched a global project targeted at the gender gap in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. The initiative, known as SAGA (STEM and Gender Advancement), will address the lack of data on women in STEM — a dearth that restricts the design and monitoring of policies to address gender equality. By developing new indicators and methods to measure and assess sex-disaggregated data on women’s participation and the barriers they face, SAGA hopes to help reduce the gender gap at all levels of education and research.
