Benchmarking sex and gender incorporation into health and medical research, policy and education in Victoria prior to 2026: a mixed-methods study

Objective: To investigate and establish a baseline for sex and gender considerations in policy, research and curricula across the state of Victoria. Design and setting: Victoria was selected as a case study for Australia, using a mixed-methods approach to examine health and medical university curricula, research organisation policies and research funding between 2020-2025 prior to mandated inclusion. Main outcome measures: Primary outcomes include identification of predefined sex- and gender-related terms in university curricula descriptors and funded grant descriptions; and questionnaire responses from university course coordinators and organisational leads. Results: Data mining across nine Victorian universities (318 courses/3383 units) identified ~93% of units and ~60% of healthcare courses lacked sex and gender terms in their descriptors. Among medical research organisations operating in Victoria, including peak bodies, research institutes, hospitals and universities, ~70% (18/26) of the survey responders reported having no sex and gender policy. Rates of sex- and gender-term inclusion in research grants allocated in Victoria (3388) and Australia-wide (8974) validated Victoria as a case study for Australia for National Health and Medical Research Council (9.5%/8.9% respectively), Medical Research Future Funds (11%/10.2%), and Australian Research Council (4.8%/4.1%). One in nine Victorian awards from five government initiatives and one in ten from 12 non-government agencies included sex- and gender-term related terms in their guidelines. Conclusions: These baseline metrics indicate that sex and gender are still not widely considered in the education and research ecosystems. These findings support the need to build inclusive research policy at a national and state level, and accreditation standards across university education.