This article aims to reflect how gender as a category has been incorporated into academic public health studies. The discussion is based on some characteristics of the public health area, such as: interdisciplinary approach, commitment to the demands of society; dialogue with health professionals and connection with health policies implemented in the country. With this in mind, a review of articles from the SciELO database was made referring to gender and health as descriptors. The articles were classified in terms of their focal theme, methods, groups studied and use of gender category. The results reveal some heterogeneity in the use of the category in the studies selected that eventually could be explained by the particularities of the area. Based on this discussion, this article intends to foster a reflection on the ways to improve a gender approach in public health studies so as to overcome the existing differences between knowledge accrued in various fields.
Gender; Health; Interdisciplinary approach; Public health; Academic literature
