Gendered inequalities in policy processes: an illustration of women on the periphery in environmental design and public health policy

Gender inequalities manifest in a number of ways including through policymaking processes. Drawing on critical feminist perspectives, we investigate a recent Victorian Inquiry into environmental design and public health in order to illustrate how policymaking processes serve to reinforce gendered divisions within society. In our analysis, we highlight the ways in which the scope and methods of the Inquiry process, and the outcomes produced, reinforced gendered divisions and confined women's voices to the periphery. In our critique we make four key points: 1) professional or 'expert' knowledge was given privilege over 'non-expert' voices; 2) the gender-neutral nature of the report consequently obscures the needs of women which are folded into those of 'populations' and 'families'; 3) the focus on individual behaviour and responsibility for health outcomes ignores social relations and processes and the dynamic between structure and agency and; 4) where specific issues relating to women are highlighted, they are not translated into recommendations. We conclude that the Inquiry report focused on chronic disease prevention and recommended the reorganisation of urban space to further shift the responsibility for population health outcomes onto individuals. This obscured the needs of women and perpetuated a social order referenced to masculine interests. Ultimately, policy processes of this ilk disempower women and legitimise their marginalisation and exclusion from public health discourses in general.