About The Index
Introduction - Gendered Data
The Index of Victorian Women’s Health and Wellbeing (‘The Index’) is an online gateway to health and wellbeing data on Victorian women and girls.
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.
Accessing the Data
Each data source summary allows access to detailed information for the data source, including any diversity lens data included within the data source. Access to the external website containing the actual report/data is also be available. The vast majority of data sources will open an external webpage however some will open an Adobe PDF file. For these, the size of the PDF is noted within each data source summary. To open the PDF files, you will need the Adobe reader software. The latest version of software can be downloaded from the Adobe website.
Searching Data Sources
We suggest you use the Advanced Search function to search for particular data sources as it has been designed specifically for the different data source criteria within The Index, including the diversity lens data. Help with the search functionality is available.
Further Reading & Links
If the availability of gendered quantitative data is somewhat limited for a particular indicator, qualitative reports and/or discussion papers of interest, usually including a diversity lens, have been listed within a Further Reading section for the indicator (or category).
A Women’s Policy, Research & Resource Links page is included within The Index. This webpage lists some of the key documents and websites in relation to Victorian women’s policy, framework and strategy.
Suggesting Additional Data Sources
We welcome all feedback on The Index and suggestions for additional data sources to include. Please use the feedback form to send us your suggestions.
Terminology
We have attempted to use consistent terminology throughout The Index. Our data source summaries, however, use the terminology contained within the data source itself.
Acknowledgements
The development of The Index was made possible through generous funding from the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust. We are very grateful for their commitment to this work.
We were aided by the advice of our Project Advisory Group. We acknowledge their expertise and thank them for their input. The Project Advisory Group members were;
| Marilyn Beaumont |
Women's Health Victoria |
| Melanie Davern |
McCaughey Centre, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne |
| Stacey Emmett |
Public Health Division, Victorian Department of Human Services |
| Kait Gregory |
Office of Women's Policy, Victorian Department of Planning and Community Development |
| Meg Gulbin |
Diversity Unit, Victorian Department of Human Services |
| Tricia Malowney |
Victorian Women with Disabilities Network |
| Sharon Pepperdine |
Office of Women's Policy, Victorian Department of Planning and Community Development |
| Kerrilie Rice |
Women's Health Victoria |
| Tracey Hanna |
Women's Health Victoria |
Our thanks are extended to our colleagues at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in Women's Health in Vancouver, Canada, for the opportunity to work together in true partnership in bringing together gendered data to our respective communities.