According to the World Health Organization, "the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being." However, for many women and LGBTQ individuals around the world, the promise of health remains unfulfilled. Gender discrimination, stereotyping, and socio-economic vulnerability create barriers to obtaining high quality health services for women, and members of LGBT communities.
Too often, at both the international and domestic levels, law makers fail to take into consideration the gendered dimensions of health policy, such as women’s particular health needs, the importance of pre- and post- natal care as well as sexual and reproductive health services, the special needs of women with disabilities or people living with HIV/AIDS, challenges faced by transgender and intersex individuals in obtaining needed services, the unique situations of indigenous or ethnic minority women, the overrepresentation of female workers in low-wage health care jobs, and caretaking obligations which fall disproportionately on female family members. On the flip side, public health officials often respond to the immediate needs on the ground, but fail to take into account how the structure of a health care system often reflects or even reinforces gender-based biases.
Developing and maintaining strong public health systems that take into account the needs and concerns of women and LGBT community members will require the expertise of legal practitioners who are well versed in international human rights law and domestic legal and policy frameworks, and attentive to the gender-based structures which impede enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health.
Drawing upon the expertise of American University Washington College of Law faculty in the areas of Gender and Law, International Law, Law and Government, and Health Law and Policy, this project has also worked in the following areas: