Women-specific and gender-specific health research in the German Society for Social Medicine and Prevention (DGSMP)

Since the 1970s women's health research has put gender-specific topics on t he agenda of health research and practice. Based on a social science approa ch, it focuses on social conditions of the maintenance of women's health an d of their needs in prevention, health promotion, medical treatment, and re habilitation. Besides an analysis of woman-specific topics (such as sexual violence or drug abuse) women's health research addresses questions of gend er bias in health research. In Germany, guidelines are lacking that ensure appropriate attention to gender issues for health research. The section,,Wo man-specific and gender-specific health research" of the German Society for Social Medicine and Prevention (DGSMP) intends to intensify the discussion on the gaps in health research and prevention and on the development of gu idelines to detect gender bias. The main goal is to implement the concept o f gender mainstreaming in public health.