Glossary
Advocacy: An action directed at changing the policies, positions, or programs of any type of institution.
Advocacy goal: A long-term objective to describe the overall vision, mission or purpose of the change in policy, position, or program that you seek to make.
Advocacy objective: A brief statement of intent describing the specific outcome sought in the short-term that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
Advocacy quick-win: A discrete, critical policy or funding decision that must occur in the near-term to achieve a broader advocacy goal.
Equal opportunity and nondiscrimination: The offering of employment, pay, or promotion to all, without discrimination as to sex, race, color, disability, and so forth.
Family responsibilities discrimination: Exclusions, restrictions, or distinctions against individuals (such as pregnant women, mothers and fathers of young children, parents of disabled children, and individuals who care for their aging parents or sick spouses/partners) based on their responsibilities to care for family members.
Gender discrimination: Any distinction, exclusion, or restriction made on the basis of socially defined gender roles and norms that prevents a person from enjoying full human rights
Gender equality in the health workforce: A condition where women and men can enter the health occupation of their choice, develop the requisite skills and knowledge, be fairly paid, enjoy fair and safe working conditions, and advance in a career, without reference to gender. It implies that health professional education institutions and workplaces are structured to integrate family and work to reflect the value of caregiving for women and men.
Gender stereotyping: Rigid, oversimplified, generalized ideas of the differences between women and men, including essential traits, skills, attitudes, ambitions, or behaviors.
Gender-transformative (interventions): An approach that seeks to transform gender relations to promote equality by: 1) fostering critical examination of inequalities and gender roles, norms, and dynamics; 2) recognizing and strengthening positive norms that support equality and an enabling environment; and 3) promoting the relative position of women, girls, and marginalized groups, and 4) changing the underlying social structures, policies, and broadly held social norms that perpetuate gender inequalities.
Horizontal segregation: When women are concentrated in a narrower range of work that generally involves caring and nurturing (e.g. nurses) and men perform in managerial, technical, and (physical) strength-based work.
Occupational segregation: The concentration of women and men in different occupations, jobs, and tasks, or at different levels in an employment or job hierarchy
Pregnancy and family responsibilities discrimination: Exclusions, restrictions, or distinctions at work made on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or responsibilities in relation to dependent children and other members of the immediate family who need care
Sexual harassment: Unwanted, unwelcome, or offensive conduct of a sexual nature that changes the terms and conditions of work, where either a person’s rejection of, or submission to, such conduct is used explicitly or implicitly as a basis for a decision that affects that person’s career; or conduct that creates an intimidating, hostile, or humiliating work environment for the recipient
Vertical segregation: When men are concentrated in upper managerial, higher-paid positions and women are concentrated in middle or non-management positions
Wage discrimination: Systematically paying lower wages and/or reduced benefits to women or minorities not based on objective differences in the work performed, seniority, education, qualifications, experience, or productivity