In the United States, federal policy and infrastructure fail to explicitly address the poor health of men, and particularly the poor health of marginalized men. This inattention to men’s health hinders the nation’s ability to improve population health, to achieve gender health equity, and to achieve health equity more broadly. Expanding efforts to consider gender in federal policy and infrastructure to include men, naming men as a population whose poor health warrants policy attention, creating offices of men’s health in federal agencies, and utilizing an intersectional lens to develop and analyze policies that affect health would likely yield critical improvements in population health and health equity in the United States. Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, I illustrate the persistence of sex differences in mortality and leading causes of death, and how these patterns mask gender gaps in health that are driven largely by marginalized men whose health is worse than what can be readily discerned through our normal patterns of presenting data by sex and race separately. I utilize the case of Black men to illustrate the importance of an intersectional approach and the limitations of contemporary approaches to achieve gender and racial equity in health. While a gender mainstreaming approach has enhanced the nation’s ability to consider and address the health of women and girls, it has not expanded the notion of gender to be inclusive of boys and men. Including boys and men is necessary, but insufficient if our goal is to achieve health equity, which is driven by structural determinants beyond sex and gender related factors. Consequently, I argue that if our goal is to achieve health equity, it is critical to employ an intersectional approach that simultaneously considers the full range of factors that influence individual and population health and well-being.
In clinical practice, gender sensitivity and gender responsive approaches are rarely applied to men, much less marginalized men such as Black men. This presentation offers a perspective, data and tools to help social work practitioners consider the context, goals, and perspectives on health and well-being of Black men they serve.
By the end of this seminar, participants will be able to:
Dr. Derek M. Griffith is a Founding Co-Director of the Racial Justice Institute, Founder and Director of the Center for Men’s Health Equity, Member of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Professor of Health Management & Policy and Oncology at Georgetown University. He also serves as the Chair of Global Action on Men’s Health – a global men’s health advocacy organization. Trained in psychology and public health, Dr. Griffith’s program of research focuses on developing anti-racism approaches to achieve racial, ethnic, and gender equity in health. He specializes in interventions to promote Black men's health and well-being and anti-racism interventions to mitigate and undo the effects of structural racism on health. Dr. Griffith is a contributor to and editor of three books and the author of over 170 peer-reviewed manuscripts. He has been the principal investigator of research grants from the American Cancer Society, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and several institutes within the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Griffith serves on the editorial boards of several public health and men's health journals. Last year, he received a citation from the president of the American Psychological Association, “For his extraordinary leadership in addressing the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of the nation and specifically for African American and Latino men”.
Click here for Dr. Griffith's faculty page at Georgetown University.
The Continuing Education option is free, but requires participation in interactive elements and completion of evaluation following the seminar.
University of Michigan
School of Social Work
1080 South University Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106