Gender and Health Inequalities

Introduction

Different sociological frameworks have their views and arguments regarding gender. Functionalist theorists, for example, argue that men and women fill instrumental and expressive roles in society, respectively. Conflict theorists view women as the less advantaged gender due to power inequalities. The common basis for most social theories’ framework is an agreement that biology alone does not define gender identity. Rather, gender identity is determined by a mixture of socialization such as the expectations associated with being male or female, together with biology (Lindsey, 2005).

Gender socialization influences all aspects of societies and people’s daily lives, including their own self-concept, political attitudes, social behavior, and perceptions about life in general. It is affected through channels and gender frameworks such as mass media, peers, family, culture, religion, and the corporate world among others. It is reinforced each time someone or a group of people approves or disapproves of gender-linked arguments and behaviors.

The results of what views one has regarding the concept of gender are many. They vary from gender identity, people’s definition of themselves, their behaviors, as well as how they think about others (Thompson & Armato, 2012). For example, gender differences exist in the likelihood of violence against one’s peers, how likely one is to use drugs and alcohol, and how likely one is to be involved in aggressive sports. In addition, gender does affect the likelihood of certain health patterns, concerns, and prevalence.

Gender and Health

According to Connell (2012), “you cannot treat gender as an independent variable and health status as a dependent variable”. The author argues that people have to give full recognition to the relationship between the two without falling back to the assumption that gendered health concerns are differentiated by biological differences between men and women.

Biological differences contribute to the way men and women’s physiology is structured. For example, hormonal activity in women just before their menopausal age reduces their risk of cardiovascular complications (Kuhlmann & Annandale, n.d). The authors further explain that, during pregnancy, women’s circulatory system allows for higher blood volume, which reduces their risk of high blood pressure. These are naturally occurring biological processes that put women at a seeming advantaged situation than men.

In the health sector, gender power relations can be seen in women's and men’s ability to access health resources. Men and boys in some communities, appear as the privileged category, even in matters health access (Connell, 2012). In addition, unequal divisions of labor and benefits in the healthcare system affect men's and women’s overall health and well-being. For example, where men work all day and women stay at home, men are more likely to suffer fatigue-related health complications or physical injuries. In societies where alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking are more prevalent among men, diseases associated with such a lifestyle are naturally more prevalent in men (Marmot, 2006).

The level of education also does affect people’s health status and well-being. According to a report by the World Health Organization, WHO, (Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, 2008), as of 2007, an estimated 495 million women worldwide were illiterate, a number which accounts for 64% of all illiterate adults. As a result, they have little information, even concerning common diseases that are easily treatable. The level of education also affects people’s social actions and level of engagement. If one gender is less educated, they have less access to economic activities and are unable to pay for medical services.

Another health inequality that gender differences help shed light on is intimate partner violence or IPV. The negative health consequences of IPV include trauma, depression, physical injury and in the worst-case scenarios, death. According to Ackerson and Subramanian (2008), “the impact is much broader influencing mental illness, psychosomatic illness, poor health-related behaviors, poor birth outcomes, suicide, and diseases such as gynecological morbidities”. Ackerson and Subramanian (2008) further site a multi-national study sponsored by the World Health Organizations, which records that at least 15% of women in the 15 countries involved in the study, which include Tanzania, Thailand, Brazil, Japan, Ethiopia, Serbia, Peru, and Namibia, among others, have suffered sexual or physical IPV. The most affected countries include Ethiopia and India, where the figure stood at 70% and 40%, respectively.

In societies marked with high levels of gender inequality, the cases of IPVseem to be high. This can be attributed to the fact that there is a bigger emphasis put on different gender roles, influence, and perceptions that women and men should bear. For example, men are believed to have authority over every member of the household, and their instructions have to be implemented. Women are deemed to be inferior, and they have to be subjected to some the masculine authority in the house. The results are high cases of IPV and health-related complications.

A society’s perception of sexual issues in men and women also influences their health. An example is a circumcision in men and women. In societies that practice female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation among opponents, the women subjected to the practice can suffer dire health consequences. According to Mudege, Egondi, Beguy, and Zulu (2012), female circumcision has adverse reproductive and sexual medical complications. The women are also at a higher risk of contracting HIV through contaminated devices in cultures that use unsterilized equipment. In other studies, when male circumcision is done under clinically fit conditions, it has been reported to reduce the risk of contracting the HIV virus, and it does not have negative medical implications. This is a case where circumcision, when done under a clinically fit environment by professionals, has negative health effects on women but poses no risk to men.

Morbidity and mortality rates also differ in men and women. It is commonly argued that women outlive men, but they also get sick more frequently than men do. According to Kuhlmann and Annandale (n.d), “much of women’s higher morbidity and lower mortality compared to men can be explained by gender differences in disease prevalence”. The authors also report that, in most developed nations, men are more likely to develop life-threatening conditions such as heart disease and cancer. In contrast, women are more likely to develop chronic disorders such as rheumatoid disorders. They are also more likely to suffer less life-threatening, but irritating diseases such as arthritis and anemia. Women in general also experience more sick days, physical challenges, and hospitalization than men (Kuhlmann & Annandale, n.d).

Other gender aspects that create a difference in men's and women’s health are perceptions about the relationship between the two sexes. For example, in the 1970s and 1980s, female activists in the U.S. and Australia raised concerns over the fact that almost all doctors were male. This, according to the activists, “oppressed women by the patriarchy through medical control of their bodies” (Schofield, 2002). This is one among many “gendered” problems, which continue to be a source of heated debates when discussing health equality. It is argued that the relationship between a doctor and his or her patient plays a significant role in the way a patient reacts to treatment. In communities where sexual discussions are difficult to have, for instance, it can be difficult for a female patient to visit a make doctor with a reproductive problem.

Conclusion

“Gender and health is a contested concept whose various meanings have evolved in the course of the emergence and development of social movements concerned with the health of men and women” (Schofield, 2002b). In it lie debates and arguments over the role of gender in a person’s health. It is, however, important to remember the fact that for the relationship between gender and health to be understood, other factors have to be put into consideration. Bottorff, Oliffe, Robinson, and Carey (2011), name these factors as social relationships, ethnicity, economic classes, racialization, among other aspects that influence a person’s health at various ages.

However, it is obvious that interventions are needed to reduce cases where the health of people from one gender is disadvantaged. Whether it is improving gender inequality, protection against gender violence, increasing access to education for both genders, or protecting women from discrimination in financial opportunities, taking measures to ensure equal entitlement to good health is critical. Interventions can be initiated by putting in place proper frameworks and legislation that allow equal access to health care and information to both genders. Further research is required to understand the role that gender plays health and well-being.

References

Ackerson, L.K., & Subramanian, S.V. (2008). State, gender inequality, socioeconomic status and intimate partner violence in India: A multilevel analysis. Australian Journal of social issues, 43 (1), 81-102.

Bottorff, J.L., Oliffe, J.L., Robinson, C.A., & Carey, J. (2011). Gender relations and health research: A review of current practices. International Journal for Equity in Health, 10(60), 1186-1475.

Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. (2008). Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health final report. Geneva: WHO. Retrieved from www.who.int/social_determinants/thecommission/finalreport/en/index.html.

Connell, R. (2012). Gender, health and theory: Conceptualizing the issue, in local and world perspective. Social Science & Medicine, 74, 1675-1683.

Marmot, M. (2006). Health in an unequal world. Lancet, 368, 2081-94.

Mudege, N.N., Egondi, T., Beguy, D., & Zulu, E. M. (2012). The determinants of female circumcision among adolescents from communities that practice female circumcision in two Nairobi informal settlements. Health Sociology Review, 21(2), 242-50.

Kuhlmann, E., & Annandale, E. (eds.) (n.d). The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Healthcare.Palgrave Macmillan.

Lindsey, L. L. (2005). Gender roles: A sociological perspective. Upper Saddle River: PearsonPrentice Hall.

Schofield, T. (2002) What does ‘gender and health’ mean?, Health Sociology Review, 11 (1-2),29-38.

Schofield, T. (2002b). “Health sociology review”. The Journal of the Health Section of the Australian Sociological Association, 11(1), 29-38.

Thompson, M. E., & Armato, M. (2012). Investigating Gender: Developing a FeministSociological Imagination. N.P