© Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation I Khadija Farah I Kikambala, Kenya I 2024

Upstream Sex and Gender Marker for Health

A tool to increase the sex and gender intentionality of upstream investments during investment design.

Upstream Sex and Gender Integration Marker

This Upstream Sex and Gender Integration Marker is a learning tool for the foundation’s upstream health investments. It is intended to be used by investment owners when designing and refining an investment and to spark conversation with grantees.

The purpose of this tool is to enable investment owners and teams to more intentionally integrate relevant considerations on:

  • Sex as a biological variable—anatomy, physiology, genetics, hormones, etc.—and/or
  • Gender —social variables such as roles, norms, relations, and power.

The tool was updated in November 2024.

Download Upstream Sex and Gender Integration Marker