FEMINIST GLOBAL HEALTH DIPLOMACY: GENDER, POWER, AND HEALTH INEQUITIES IN PAKISTAN - A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Abstract

This comprehensive review examined feminist global health diplomacy through the critical lens of Pakistan's health governance landscape, where profound gender inequities manifest in alarming statistics: 186 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, 34% of women experiencing spousal violence, and only 22.6% female labor force participation. Through systematic literature review methodology analyzing peer-reviewed articles, national health surveys, and policy documents from 2012-2024, it has been investigated that the intersections of gender, power, and health inequities within Pakistan's patriarchal social structures. The analysis revealed that traditional global health diplomacy frameworks systematically marginalize women's health priorities, with devastating consequences for maternal health (lifetime risk of maternal death 1 in 89), reproductive rights (48.5% unmet family planning needs), and gender-based violence prevention (conviction rates below 2%). Using feminist political ecology and intersectionality frameworks, it presented comprehensive data documenting provincial variations in health indicators, gender-based violence statistics, healthcare access barriers, and policy implementation gaps across Pakistan's diverse regions. The paper demonstrates how feminist global health diplomacy, emphasizing local agency, intersectional analysis, and structural inequality transformation, provides essential frameworks for achieving health equity in contexts where gender discrimination intersects with class, ethnicity, and geographic marginalization to produce devastating health outcomes for women and marginalized populations.