Redesigning Global Health Governance Must Address Structural Gender Inequities and Funding Gaps
Original framing: “[Correspondence] The next global health architecture cannot exclude women” — The Lancet
Women from marginalized groups—rural, disabled, LGBTQ+, and Indigenous—report systemic barriers such as lack of mentorship, tokenistic participation, and gender‑based violence within health institutions. Their testimonies underscore the need for intersectional policies that go beyond numeric representation. The original text largely erases these nuanced voices.
The exclusion of women from senior global‑health roles is not merely an equity oversight but a symptom of entrenched patriarchal financing, colonial legacies, and neoliberal governance that privilege male‑led institutions.
By foregrounding Indigenous gender‑balanced practices, historical patterns of exclusion, and robust scientific evidence linking diverse leadership to better health outcomes, we can reconfigure funding streams, governance quotas, and knowledge production to be genuinely inclusive. Actionable pathways—such as enforceable gender quotas, gender‑transformative budgeting, intersectional mentorship pipelines, and integrative knowledge platforms—must be coordinated by WHO, major donors, and civil‑society coalitions. Embedding these reforms within future scenario modelling will ensure resilience against climate and pandemic shocks, while a trickster lens reminds us to continually interrogate the paradoxes that sustain superficial inclusion.