This website is based on the results of the collaborative research project AdvanceGender (2017-2022) explored how an intersectional perspective can contribute to mapping diversity between and within sexes/genders, promoting the participation of different social groups, as well as explaining health inequalities in the social, institutional and political context. The aim was to make intersectionality fruitful for sex/gender-sensitive health research and reporting by developing or testing methods for selected aspects of the research process in population-based studies. The project, which consisted of three sub-projects, was accompanied by an international scientific advisory board (Figure).

Sub-project 1 (AdvanceRecruitment) investigated the roles played by sex/gender and the intersections of sex/gender with other social categories in the decision to participate in population-based health research. For this purpose, the experiences of participants and non-participants in the NAKO Health Study were systematically investigated. Furthermore, the importance of an intersectional perspective in the description of representativeness and study participation in epidemiological studies was investigated.

In sub-project 2 (AdvanceDataAnalysis), we analysed which gender-theoretical concepts and methods for capturing intersectionality have found their way into the design and implementation of quantitative data analyses so far. Based on this, intersectionality-informed and sex/gender-sensitive strategies for data analysis were developed, which can use the data usually available for health reporting. These strategies aim to quantitatively capture the interactions of sex/gender with other social categories as well as underlying mechanisms for gender inequities. The strategies are also intended to contribute to the further development of sex/gender-sensitive and intersectionality-informed health reporting.

Sub-project 3 (AdvanceHealthReporting) was dedicated to the advancement of sex/gender-sensitive and intersectional health reporting. International strategies of health reporting on sex/gender were summarised and participatory approaches for recording different social realities in Germany were tested. The aim was to be able to better take into account the needs and perspectives of diverse social groups when preparing and classifying health reports. Suggestions for sex/gender-sensitive and intersectional health reporting were finally developed and evaluated in a Delphi survey.

Funding

AdvanceGender was funded through the funding initiative "Gesund - ein Leben lang" of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research from 2017 to 2022 (funding ID 01GL1710).

Scientific Advisory Board

Thomas Altgeld – Landesvereinigung für Gesundheit und Akademie für Sozialmedizin, Lower Saxony, Germany

Ellen Annandale – University of York, United Kingdom

Anne Hammarström – Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Olena Hankivsky – Simon Fraser University, Canada

Petra Kolip – University of Bielefeld, Germany 

Alan White – Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom

Members of the AdvanceGender Study Group

The institutions and individuals involved in the AdvanceGender Study Group included:

University of Bremen, Institute for Public Health and Nursing Research, Department of Social Epidemiology: Gabriele Bolte, Emily Mena

Robert Koch Institute: Alexander Rommel, Anke-Christine Saß, Kathleen Pöge, Sarah Strasser

Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane, Institute of Social Medicine and Epidemiology: Christine Holmberg, Sibille Merz, Philipp Jaehn

We would like to thank all who have worked with us over the years to make this project a success, in particular former colleagues, our study participants, collaborators and student workers.