#ThisisGender 2020 Photo Competition

What does gender look like? This is the question Global Health 50/50 are seeking to explore in their international photo competition launched today.

The World Health Organization defines gender as the socially constructed characteristics of women and men – such as the norms, roles and relationships of and between groups of women and men. But for each and every one of us, the notion of gender will hold a diverse array of personal significance, social expectations and stories of how it shapes our lives.

Both amateur and professional photographers are invited to participate and contribute to generating diverse representations of gender. The competition asks photographers to consider how gender norms – rigid and fluid, traditional and progressive – influence power, opportunity and wellbeing in different communities.

Participants have the opportunity to win the £500 first prize as well as have their winning image featured on the cover of the 2020 Global Health 50/50 report. The 2019 report was launched by the President of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa and received extensive media coverage. The 2020 Report launch will be accompanied by photo exhibits in Stockholm and London showcasing the winning and shortlisted images.

“Gender affects everybody. It is a powerful force that continues to drive and shape the experiences and environments of everyone – women, men, transgender people and people with non-binary gender identities”, said Professor Sarah Hawkes, co-Director of Global Health 50/50. “Yet ‘gender’ imagery, and conversations around gender, remain largely anchored around women, and often around a small sub-sect of women that fails to represent the diversity of female experience.”

Suggested photographic themes include the interaction between gender, health and wellbeing, the political and commercial exploitation of limited gender roles for men and women, how gender intersects with other aspects of identities, vulnerabilities and privileges and people or communities challenging rigid or unhealthy gender norms.

All photographic and photojournalistic forms are welcome. Early-career photographers from underreported and/or underrepresented communities and regions are encouraged to participate.

GH5050 is an emerging leader in pushing forward conversations around gender and its interactions with health and opportunity, in organisations and more generally in public discourse. GH5050’s efforts culminate in an annual report that reviews the gender-responsiveness of approximately 200 global organisations active in health. The 2018 and 2019 reports sent waves through the global health and development sector and are already fuelling documented policy change.

Find out more about the competition and how to submit here .