New Mexico Well Woman - Gender Analysis Project

A gender-based analysis is essential to health policy because it:

• acknowledges that certain health problems are unique to, or have more serious implications for men and women from various groups based on race/ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and ability

• leads to a better understanding of the social and biological determinants of health among men and women in various populations

• results in more effective interventions to improve health for men and women in various populations

• recognizes the need for full participation of women and men in identifying and prioritizing their health needs

• contributes to the attainment of greater equity in health and health care for men and women

• reduces health disparities

Working with the NM Department of Health

Because of our request to include a gender specific analysis of bills being anaylzed for the state legislature, the NM Department of Health now includes the following in its legislative analysis template:

"Does the proposed policy/program/service differentially impact women, men, girls and boys?"

Legislative Gender Analysis Pilot Project 2009

A team of University of New Mexico interns undertook a gender-based legislative analysis pilot project.

In Fall 2008, the New Mexico Women’s Health Office implemented a legislative analysis pilot project to develop guidelines for and to apply a robust sex and gender analysis to health related bills in the legislative session. Our office recruited several interns, including high school, undergraduate, and graduate students and provided them introductory training in sex and gender-based theory, opportunities to partake in activities at the legislature, and held several workshops to develop guidelines and conduct analyses. Building on the Fiscal Impact Report analysis model, our Office developed a sex and gender-based Bill analysis template that can be applied to any Bill. Our primary objective was to advocate for the importance and consistent inclusion of sex and gender-based analysis as part of the standard bill analysis procedures conducted by policy analysts. Sex and gender are now recognized as important determinants of health and it is essential to develop tools to articulate the explicit, but also hidden, dimensions of legislation that have important sex and gender implications. A sex and gender-based legislative analysis is part of a broader dedication to the rigorous examination of health disparities in the state of New Mexico.