Scoping review identifies gender justice themes in health literature on climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss, highlighting women's experiences and underrepresentation.
AIM: To identify and report how gender justice is conceptualised and discussed in contemporary health literature in relation to the Triple Planetary Crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, with a particular focus on the experiences of women and gender-diverse populations, and the representation of nurses and other healthcare professionals dominated by women. DESIGN: Scoping review. DATA SOURCES: Searches were conducted across MEDLINE (Ovid), Scopus, CINHAL, Embase and ProQuest, focusing on studies published from January 1 2000-23 September 2024. REVIEW METHODS: The review was conducted in accordance with the JBI methodology for scoping reviews and reported against the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Data were extracted according to a pre-specified extraction framework, developed a priori, encompassing components of gender justice and intersectionality. RESULTS: A total of 39 studies were included: 17 (43.6%) qualitative, 17 (43.6%) quantitative and 5 (12.8%) mixed methods. The focus of the studies included gendered experiences of climate change (30.8%), decision-making and governance (20.5%), health and wellbeing (17.9%), women's economic participation (15.4%), cultural and spiritual connections to land (7.7%), and intersectionality and human rights (7.7%). Gender-diverse populations, nurses and other healthcare professions dominated by women were not represented in the literature. CONCLUSION: The literature reported that women experienced differentiated exposure to the Triple Planetary Crisis. The underrepresentation of gender diverse people and nurses in recent studies remains a significant barrier to advancing understanding of gender justice. Integrating gender justice into health systems is increasingly important to prevent women from being disproportionately impacted by the Triple Planetary Crisis. IMPACT: More attention to inclusion of frontline healthcare professionals, including nurses, in governance, policy discussions and leadership roles could strengthen the response to systemic environmental threats. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public involvement.
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