There are gender-based differences in life expectancy, healthy life years, health behaviours, mortality, and morbidity risks. This is partly due to the socially constructed roles of men and women, and the relationships between them. These norms influence the health conditions that individuals are susceptible to, as well as the accessibility and uptake of health services. This article, written by Keshika Vasuja, examines the impacts of gender inequalities on health. The social structures of many countries perpetuate the marginalization and oppression of women in the form of cultural norms and legal codes. As a result of this unequal social order, women are usually relegated into positions where they have less access and control over healthcare resources, making women more vulnerable to suffering from health problems than men. While gender equality has made the most progress in areas such as education and labour force participation, health inequality between men and women continues to plague many societies today. While both males and females face health disparities, girls and women experience a majority of health disparities. This comes from the fact that many cultural ideologies and practices have structured society in a way whereby women are more vulnerable to abuse and mistreatment, making them more prone to illnesses and early death. Women live longer than men but spend fewer years in good health. The gender pays and pension gaps, 16.3% and 38% respectively, put older women in particular at risk of poverty and social exclusion which creates barriers to health services. Further, gender role conflicts, total workload, and unpaid work have potential adverse effects on women’s wellbeing and long-term health. Females are underrepresented in clinical trials and subjected to physician bias in diagnosis and treatment. Women are also restricted from receiving many opportunities, such as education and paid labour, that can help improve their accessibility to better health care resources. While a majority of the global health gender disparities is weighted against women, there are situations in which men tend to fare poorer. One such instance is armed conflicts, where men are often the immediate victims. A study of conflicts in 13 countries from 1955 to 2002 found that 81% of all violent war deaths were male. Apart from armed conflicts, areas with high incidence of violence, such as regions controlled by drug cartels, also see men experiencing higher mortality rates. This stems from social beliefs that associate ideals of masculinity with aggressive, confrontational behavior. Lastly, sudden and drastic changes in economic environments and the loss of social safety nets, in particular social subsidies and food stamps, have also been linked to higher levels of alcohol consumption and psychological stress among men, leading to a spike in male mortality rates. This is because such situations often make it harder for men to provide for their family, a task that has been long regarded as the "essence of masculinity". A retrospective analyses of people infected with the common cold found that doctors underrate the symptoms of men, and are more willing to attribute symptoms and illness to women than men. Men are over-represented in dangerous occupations and represent a majority of on the job deaths. Further, medical doctors provide men with less service, less advice, and spend less time with men than they do with women per medical encounter.
Another axis of health disparity is within the intersex community. Intersex, also known as disorders of sex development (DSD) is defined as “physical abnormalities of the sex organs”. Intersex is often grouped into categories with the LGBTQ community. However, it is commonly mistaken that they are the same when they are not. Transgender persons are born with sex organs that do not match the gender they identify with, whereas intersex persons are born with sex organs that are neither clearly male nor female, often having to choose one gender to identify with. Healthcare of intersex persons is centered around what may be considered "cultural understandings of gender" or the binary system commonly used as gender. Surgeries and other interventions are often used for intersex persons to attempt to physically change their body to conform with one sex. It has been debated whether or not this practice is ethical. Much of this pressure to choose one sex to conform to is socially implemented. Data suggest that children who do not have one gender to conform to may face embarrassment from peers. Parents may also pressure their children to having cosmetic surgery to avoid being embarrassed themselves. Particular ethical concerns come into play when decisions are made on behalf of the child before they are old enough to consent. Intersex people can face discrimination when seeking healthcare. James Sherer of Rutgers University Medical School also found, "Many well-meaning and otherwise supportive healthcare providers feel uncomfortable when meeting an LGBT patient for the first time due to a general lack of knowledge about the community and the terminology used to discuss and describe its members. Common mistakes, such as incorrect language usage or neglecting to ask about sexual orientation and gender at all, may inadvertently alienate patients and compromise their care. The European Union has launched a number of initiatives to try to redress the gender imbalance and its effects, such as the inclusion of gender equality in the European Pillar of Social Rights. Programmes to tackle the causes of inequality have also been developed in Member States. Works Cited: https://eurohealthnet.eu/media/news-releases/impact-gender-inequality-health https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_disparities_in_health
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Welcome to our blog, Medquity!Here we will post extra articles on health disparities to display the profound health inequities in our healthcare system. These are updated every other weekend, so check back regularly! Archives
July 2021
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