COLLECTIVE HEALTH AND GENDER: A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE ON WOMEN’S HEALTH CARE

Abstract

Gender inequalities in access to, quality of, and effectiveness within health services remain persistent and structurally embedded, demanding approaches that transcend traditional biomedical models. This article proposes a critical reflection on women's health care through a feminist lens, considering the multiple forms of oppression that shape female bodies and their manifestations in public health services. The main objective is to understand how the field of collective health has incorporated—or failed to incorporate—gender, race, class, and territoriality in the development of public policies, professional training, and care practices. A narrative literature review was conducted using Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, with the descriptors “collective health,” “gender,” “feminist perspective,” “primary care,” and “intersectionality.” Fifteen scientific articles published between 2022 and 2024 were included, all with direct relevance to the study topic. Exclusion criteria encompassed articles over twenty years old, opinion pieces, and texts not directly addressing the central theme. The analysis revealed that exclusionary practices persist, especially in care for Black, Indigenous, incarcerated, and peripheral women, and are reinforced by a health system grounded in universalist and androcentric rationalities. However, counter-hegemonic initiatives—such as griot pedagogy, ancestral knowledge, and community-based practices—emerge to challenge biomedical normativity and propose new meanings for care. It is concluded that adopting a feminist perspective in collective health should not be treated as a theoretical complement but rather as a structural foundation for the development of public policies and care practices that are genuinely equitable and emancipatory.