Who gets to decide what counts as truth? Why are certain bodies—especially gender nonconforming and disabled ones—so often reduced to data points, risks, or problems to fix? I’ll share some insights and tracing some links between gender conversion therapy and behaviourist models agenda still used today, and reflect on how data is being used to shape policy in ways that silence resistance. Autism shows up as a trending flashpoint recently, but the bigger story is about power, control, and how we might start reclaiming evidence on our own terms.
Speaker : Beatrice Leong is a Malaysian documentary filmmaker and gender-disability activist who believes in the power of stories to name what others silence. When she was finally diagnosed with autism in adulthood, after a lifetime of psychiatric and medical injustice, she began using storytelling to reclaim what was lost and connect with others who’ve been left out. Alongside filmmaking, she works across national, regional, and global spaces to advance disability inclusion, policy change, and narrative justice. Beatrice also serves on the advisory board of the Disability Justice Project, a media platform that supports disabled human rights defenders in the Global South through storytelling and advocacy.
20 May 2025 | Organizer: Framework Convention on Global Health Alliance and the Alliance for Health Promotion
GENDRO is proud to co-sponsor the WHA78 Partners Meeting on Health Equity and the Right to Health, held at Campus Biotech Innovation Park in Geneva. Co-organized by the Framework Convention on Global Health (FCGH) Alliance and the Alliance for Health Promotion, the event brought together civil society organizations and global health advocates to strengthen collaboration and advance the right to health for all.
Moderated by Dr. Leigh Kamore Haynes (Simmons University / FCGH Alliance), the meeting featured a dynamic exchange on the structural determinants of health inequities and strategies for collective action.
We thank our co-sponsors and all participants for their commitment to building a more equitable future.
At Gendro, we convened an informal, closed online panel with members of the GEH Network to explore a timely and essential question: Do we need a new paradigm to conduct research?
With a focus on gender responsive /intersectional feminist research, the aim of this session was to create an interactive and safe space for open reflection on how recent social, political, and funding developments are affecting research on the intersection of health, gender, race/ethnicity, and other intersectional dimensions. We brought together a diverse group of voices and experiences, including those working on intersectional feminist and inclusive methodologies, fostering collaborative and participatory approaches.
8 April 2025 | Organizer: The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Team of Specialists on Gender-Responsive Standards
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to expand rapidly, it is crucial to ensure that the most vulnerable populations are not neglected or rendered further invisible. AI systems, which are increasingly used in decision-making across various sectors such as healthcare, finance, recruitment, and public services, often inherit and amplify historical gender biases present in training data, model design, and algorithmic assumptions. These biases perpetuate systemic disadvantages for women and marginalized gender groups, reinforcing structural inequalities, limiting economic and professional opportunities, and restricting access to essential services.
Welcome
Lance Thompson, Head of Regulatory Cooperation Unit, ECTD, ECE [Bio & PPT]
Michelle Parkouda, Chair Team of Specialists on Gender-Responsive Standards (ToS-GRS) [Bio & PPT]
Keynote
Katrin J. Yuan, CEO Swiss Future Institute and Chair AI Future Council [Bio & PPT]
Panel discussions
Impact of Gender Bias in AI
Sergio Scandizzo, Head of Internal Modelling, European Investment Bank (financial services perspective) [Bio & PPT]
Shirin Heidari, President GENDRO (healthcare perspective) [Bio & PPT]
Costanza Bonadonna, Dean of the Faculty of Science, University of Geneva (hiring process perspective) [Bio & PPT]
Claire Somerville, Geneva Graduate Institute, EQUALS-EU Project (digital environment)
How to address gender bias in standards for AI
Caitlin Kraft-Buchnan, Women @ the Table [Bio & PPT]
Cristina Finch, Head Gender and Security Division, Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) [Bio & PPT]
Over three days, 50 leading public health experts and decision-makers came together to develop actionable solutions for closing gender health data gaps and building more equitable health systems by 2030.
Key participants include: – Government officials from the Global South, including India, Fiji, Bangladesh, Mozambique, and Zambia; – Representatives from the United Nations; – Experts from top universities; – Leaders of grassroots organizations.
“By working together across disciplines and borders, we can accelerate transformative change that ensures health data fully reflects and advances gender equity by 2030,” said Dr. Michelle Kaufman, Director of the Gender Equity Unit and Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Have you ever thought about how biological sex and gender norms might influence development of different cancers and treatment outcomes?
Why do women experience worse toxicity side effects than men whilst receiving chemotherapy but have significantly better survival outcomes?
Why do non-smoking women get lung cancer at a higher rate than non-smoking men?
And what are the implications for how we should be studying cancer therapies and treating patients to optimise outcomes for the future?
Our Expert Guests:
🔹 PD Dr. Berna Özdemir – Senior Medical Oncology Consultant specialising in melanoma and GU cancer at University Hospital Bern, and founding member of the ESMO Gender Taskforce.
🔹 Shirin Heidari – Founding President of the not-for-profit organisation GENDRO and a driving force behind the SAGER (Sex and Gender Equity in Research) guidelines.
