While men and women continue to have longer life expectancies now than they did in the past, women continue to outlive men on average. Yet when we explore these extended life expectancies we find that women tend to suffer higher rates of poor health and disability. In addition to this, there are a number of differences between men and women’s health which contribute to our widening gender gap. Cardiovascular disease (CVD), for example, traditionally thought to be a men’s issue has recently been found to impact and kill more women (Bird & Rieker, 2008) Our misinformation, misdiagnoses and misrepresentation from past health research and policies has continually perpetuated this belief that CVD is a “men’s illness”. This is due to many factors
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Though depression occurs at higher rates in women than in men, such high rates could also be linked to the fact it has been more culturally acceptable for women to seek out treatment for mental health than men (Bird & Rieker, 2008). Such cultural and social mindsets lead the creation of one-sided or misinformed health research and policies, because a group is left out of the picture. Due to societal and cultural expectations of males in regards to mental health, it has been more culturally acceptable for them to historically seek out other methods of coping with these emotions such as alcohol and drugs. All of social and cultural norms constrain the health choices for men and women, often perpetuating and exaggerating these …show more content…
Our social and economic policies and practices significantly limit the choices of an individual. Choices and actions at the work, family, community, and governing level significantly influence the prospects of both men and women during their lifetime. Due to these different opportunities, men and women are constrained to make certain choices such as what kind of jobs they have or what neighborhood they live in. Such courses of action, life decisions, and biology culminate together to affect the health and lifestyles of men and women differently. Decision makers contribute to these constrained choices by developing public policies which disproportionately aid women’s and children’s needs over men’s. An example of this is how much attention is given to women’s reproductive health, yet rhetoric concerning men’s reproductive health within public policies is far and few (Bird & Rieker, 2008). Even how we think of health in regards to gender has been severely misinformed because a specific gender has been left out of the process or the process has tried to unsuccessfully treat each gender equally despite some of the key differences between them. We see this with the lack of representation of gender in drug trials and our health policies. These policies limit our choices and opportunities, hindering an individual’s autonomy to
Though depression occurs at higher rates in women than in men, such high rates could also be linked to the fact it has been more culturally acceptable for women to seek out treatment for mental health than men (Bird & Rieker, 2008). Such cultural and social mindsets lead the creation of one-sided or misinformed health research and policies, because a group is left out of the picture. Due to societal and cultural expectations of males in regards to mental health, it has been more culturally acceptable for them to historically seek out other methods of coping with these emotions such as alcohol and drugs. All of social and cultural norms constrain the health choices for men and women, often perpetuating and exaggerating these …show more content…
Our social and economic policies and practices significantly limit the choices of an individual. Choices and actions at the work, family, community, and governing level significantly influence the prospects of both men and women during their lifetime. Due to these different opportunities, men and women are constrained to make certain choices such as what kind of jobs they have or what neighborhood they live in. Such courses of action, life decisions, and biology culminate together to affect the health and lifestyles of men and women differently. Decision makers contribute to these constrained choices by developing public policies which disproportionately aid women’s and children’s needs over men’s. An example of this is how much attention is given to women’s reproductive health, yet rhetoric concerning men’s reproductive health within public policies is far and few (Bird & Rieker, 2008). Even how we think of health in regards to gender has been severely misinformed because a specific gender has been left out of the process or the process has tried to unsuccessfully treat each gender equally despite some of the key differences between them. We see this with the lack of representation of gender in drug trials and our health policies. These policies limit our choices and opportunities, hindering an individual’s autonomy to