Dear Center members,

We greatly appreciate your feedback in our poll to change our Center name. We are reaching out to announce we are changing our name to: Center for Gender and Health Justice (CGHJ)

Over the years it has become more apparent to us that the term "women's health" is outdated. It reinforces a gender binary that can be exclusionary and offensive. While our Center's work will remain focused on gender equity, the health issues that we and our members focus on affect people of all sexes, gender identities and sexual orientations. While we signaled this recognition by integrating "gender" into our name in 2016, retaining "women's health" at that time was still debated amongst our leadership.

Additionally, we have received feedback that the term "empowerment" is contestable in that it can be interpreted to imply action taken by one group for or to another. (Although, it can also indicate community-driven or led action, the dynamic interplay of structure and agency, and the centrality of power dynamics in social and structural changes for gender equity and equality.)

We have also shortened from Center of Expertise to Center. The term “Center of Expertise” was often mistaken to be “Center of Excellence” and made our name just too long.

For our center, our work should include an intersectional approach that centers the diverse needs, lived experiences, and leadership of people impacted by gender-based discrimination and oppression. Our center's values and mission are to reduce gender and health disparities to achieve both equity (equal opportunities and access to resources) and equality (equal outcomes for people of all genders) and affirm the lives of ALL people. We are happy to have a more inclusive name that better aligns with the work we do.

We will be transitioning to a new listserv and will be adding your emails to this new listserv. We will also be changing all our social media handles (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter). Please look out for an email from Stephanie Sumstine-Felice, Center Coordinator, about the new e-mail list.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

UCGHI Center for Gender and Health Justice Leadership Team

• Ushma Upadhyay, PhD, MPH (UCSF)
• Dallas Swendeman, PhD, MPH (UCLA)
• Jennifer Wagman, PhD, MHS (UCLA)
• Melissa Smith, MD (UCSB)
• Stephanie Sumstine-Felice, MPH (UCLA)