• Women's Health Victoria

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08 September 2010An online gateway to evidence-based health and wellbeing data on Victorian women and girls across a wide variety of indicators relevant to a social model of health.

Communities are best served when planning, policy and practice is designed to meet the needs of its people. This is particularly true in the area of health and wellbeing when a sound evidence-base informs the development of these activities. While many of the benefits to communities from evidence-based planning, policy and practice are being realised, the impact of gender on health and wellbeing continues, for the most part, to be neglected.

By facilitating the use of gendered data, The Index assists those working in policy development, planning, research and service provision to consider women and gender. This results in a more detailed picture of Victorian women’s lives and better health outcomes for all Victorians, women and men.

Health & Wellbeing Indicators

The breadth of gendered data within The Index extends beyond the traditional biomedical model of health. Instead, The Index incorporates over 70 indicators of health and wellbeing relevant to a social model of health. The indicators have been grouped into the categories listed at left.
View a full listing of indicators and categories.

Gender & Diversity

The Index can be used as a tool to support the Gender and Diversity Lens for Health and Human Services, developed by the Diversity Unit of the Victorian Department of Human Services.  Where possible, The Index includes gendered data sources that also consider a range of diversity lenses. These include data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, women with disabilities, same-sex attracted women, and women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Data Sources within The Index

Which Data Sources Are Included?
Within each of The Index’s indicators, various external reports, surveys, and other sources of quantitative data are listed. Each ‘data source’ is briefly summarised in regard to the types of data it contains and how it relates to the specific indicator.

In locating the data sources for The Index, a broad range of sources have been drawn on.  These include (but are not limited to) Federal and State government departments and institutes, university research departments, non-government organisations, independent research bodies and academic publications.

The Index primarily includes sources of Victorian gendered data. Where this is not possible, data sources are included that contain gendered data at the national level or non-gendered Victorian data. The data sources are sorted so that the most recent Victorian gendered data is at the top, followed by the most recent Australian gendered data, Victorian non-gendered data etc. 

While The Index is updated regularly with new data sources, it is not intended to be an exhaustive list of gendered data.