Women Deliver Conference:

Embedding Sex and Gender Equity Across Health Systems, Policy, Research

29 April 2026

Deakin University hosted a panel ‘Embedding Sex and Gender Equity Across Health Systems, Policy, Research’ at the Women Deliver Conference. Speakers included our co-director Professor Kate Seear, Professor Antonina Mikocka-Walus and Professor Bronwyn Graham. They spoke about how across the world, women are facing inequalities in healthcare, however there are many gaps in research, policy and practice regarding sex and gender in this area.

The event explored practical reforms, strategies for accountability related to equity in health systems and discussed a national model to advance gender-responsive systems.

Professor Kate Seear spoke about stigma, discrimination, law and policy, explaining that inequity in healthcare policy, practice and research is increasingly understood as a structural and systemic problem that requires legal and policy responses. This includes work to address equity within the policies and processes of organisations but might also extend to regulatory responses which require systems to address stigma and discrimination as a condition of their accreditation and funding. Kate also spoke about the work of the Inquiry into Women’s Pain and its recent report, as she is the Deputy Chair of the Inquiry.