Why It Matters
Vital Strategies endorses the World Health Organization definition of gender and uses the term to refer to the socially constructed characteristics, norms, behaviors, and roles of women, men, girls, boys, varying across societies and over time. Our definition also includes the idea that gender exists across a spectrum and includes non-binary, third gender, transgender, and other experiences of gender. Gender hierarchies create inequalities that intersect with other forms of discrimination to influence a person’s health.
