Equitable policy and law reform is essential to our health: who is being invited to participate? — Agentur Pty Ltd

Equitable policy and law reform is essential to our health: who is being invited to participate? (63)

Kate Hauser 1
  1. Women's Health West, Footscray, VIC, Australia

Background: Social determinants of health are the social and economic conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. These conditions are shaped by broader social, economic and political forces, and the unequal distribution of power and resources in society. Evidence from the World Health Organisation identifies the significant impact of equity in law reform and public policies on health and wellbeing, particularly for marginalised groups. Our aim is to reflect on community consultation and participation processes and demonstrate how these processes relate to this area of health equity.

Methods: Women’s Health West is consulting with community groups of women in Melbourne’s West to inform an organisational client and community participation strategy. This presentation will draw from some of the themes raised, and evidence identified in a literature review. 

Results/Discussions: Our consultations with women in Melbourne’s West have highlighted that if participation initiatives are tokenistic they can be disempowering and reinforce inequitable power relations between organisations and community members. We also found that appropriate strategies for engagement varied greatly between diverse groups of women. These findings are significant because that they prompt us to recognise how the expertise of marginalised population groups should be more valued in social, political and economic domains. The current discourse of ‘consumer participation’ indicates a commitment to participation in decisions that affect people’s lives and communities. However, community sector organisations are also finding it increasingly difficult to justify the importance of advocacy roles and women continue to be underrepresented in leadership roles that allow them to directly influence decision making.

Conclusions/implications: Discussions around community participation frequently centre on the degree of participation offered; the spectrum from consultation process to independent initiatives. Our research indicates that it is also important to consider who is engaged, how their voice and expertise is valued, and what they are able to influence.

#equity14