2. Recap
⢠Thought about how health and illness are
structured by society
⢠Considered the âsick
roleâ, medicalisation, surveillance
medicine and âlayâ understandings of
health
⢠Considered different explanations about
the impact of social class on health
3. Outline
⢠Consider the evidence for an association
between gender and health
⢠Look at completing explanations
â Biological
â Social
â Structural
4. Gender Differences
⢠Gender differences in health are often
related to the maxim:
â Women get sicker but men die quicker
⢠Some evidence of this, but complex
picture
5. Mortality Difference
⢠In the UK, women generally life longer
than men (National Statistics online)
⢠Life expectancy
at birth:
by sex in the UK
6. Health care usage
⢠More women than men consult their GP
National Statistics online
25
Males
Females
20
⢠Consultations
15
with an NHS GP 10
by sex and age 5
2001/02
0
0-4 5-15 16-44 45-64 65-74 75 and over
7. Limiting illness
⢠Other statistics give a different picture
National Statistics online
⢠2001 Census
People in
private
households
with a long-term
illness
8. Gender differences
⢠What do you think might account for the
different levels of gender differences in the
3 areas:
âMortality
âHealth care usage
âMorbidity
9. Explaining
Gender Differences
⢠There are 3 different groups of
explanations:
â Biological
â Social Roles
â Structural factors
10. Biological Explanations
⢠Biological explanations focus on genetic
and physiological differences
â Male and female bodies are different
⢠But mortality and morbidity gaps change
over time and between places
⢠So this does not see to be a
sufficient explanation
11. Social Roles
⢠The construction of normative ideas about
masculinity and femininity has implications
for health
â Different risk behaviours
⢠Alcohol, smoking
⢠Traffic Accidents major case of
young male death
â Gendered work
⢠Occupational risks, domestic labour, unregulated
markets
12. ⢠Do you think women and menâs lifestyles
and work can account for gendered
differences?
13. Social Roles
⢠Social relationships are also gendered
â Womenâs responsibility for âcareâ includes
maintaining the familyâs health
â Womenâs roles in the family and community
⢠Older single men more vulnerable to isolation
14. Social Roles
⢠Gendered roles in reporting
â Women and men are socialised to experience
bodily sensations differently
⢠Women say how they feel, men report physical
sensations
â Men may be more reluctant to seek medical
advice
15. ⢠Do you think there are gendered
differences in the experiences of bodily
sensations?
⢠If so, how might this impact on health?
16. Social Roles
⢠Gendered diagnosis
â Women and men may get different diagnosis
⢠Psychiatric disorder rather than Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome
â Differences found in the prescription of drugs
â Differences found in treatment
17. Patriarchal medicine?
⢠Womenâs bodies are deemed to be
inherently pathological
â Defined by their unstable reproductive bodies
⢠The medicalisation of
menstruation, pregnancy and menopause
leads to higher health care usage
â Removing appointments related to
reproduction evens out the statistics
18. Structural factors
⢠Material circumstances make a different to
health outcomes
⢠Differences between men and women
â Power and resources in the home can leave women
disadvantaged
⢠Feminization of poverty
â Differences between women
â Intersection with social class
19. Summary
⢠Considered the relationship between
gender and health
⢠Gendered roles and relationships have an
important impact on health
⢠This intersects with other areas of social
disadvantage
20. Next week
⢠Continue to consider health inequalities by
focusing on ethnicity
⢠Look at explanations for ethnic differences
and experiences of health patterns
⢠What impact does racism have?