The Meaning of Gender in the Social Construct of Health and Wellbeing - Report Example

The Meaning of Gender in the Social Construct of Health and Wellbeing Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 2. Gender and Health 5 2 HeartDisease 5 2.2 Cancer 6 2.3 Sexual Health 7 3. Social Factors 8 3.1 Psychology and Pain 8 3.2 Gender and Age 10 3.3 The Spread of Disease 11 3.4 Patterns of the Spread of Disease 12 Conclusion 14 Bibliography 15 Abstract The following paper discusses the various ways in which health and wellbeing manifest differently between men and women. Different types of illness manifest differently in men and women and lead to disparities between treatments. Social factors indicate that women are more burdened by the nature of poverty as it affects disease with men and women both seeing wide disparities in mortality between the rich and the poor. In looking at the nature of health and wellbeing as it is defined by gender differences, the need for more gender centred research emerges as an imperative in the 21st century. The Meaning of Gender in the Social Construct of Health and Wellbeing 1. Introduction While the search for equality has in some ways homogenized men and women in respect to roles and position in society, the nature of male and female biological differences influences the nature of health care and wellbeing. In forming health care for men and women, some of the research has neglected to take into consideration the differences between men and women where medical attention is concerned. In the 20th century there was a lack of research being done on women’s health issues. Once that information began to bring an understanding that illness and injury have very different effects and responses from women in comparison to men the nature of care needed to begin to change. On the other hand, men’s sexual health was greatly ignored in comparison to women’s sexual health, likely because of the reproductive influence, and has only recently began to emerge as a consideration. Heart disease, cancer, immune related illnesses, and reproductive related issues all can be judged for very different symptoms and effects in women as compared to men. Additionally, mental health and wellbeing manifests differently between men and women, meaning that research in the mental health care field must also look at the differences between male and female biology and sociological acculturation in order to assess how differences can be seen. The following paper will examine the differences that can be seen between men and women in relationship to health care and wellbeing. Through an investigation of research that has been done to examine the differences in the genders, a better understanding of how gender affects care may begin to emerge. In addition, the social positions that are defined by differences in socio-economic and cultural realms can further help to define how the social factors affect men and women differently, giving them different levels of access to care. Sociological factors in reference to how disease is spread are discussed in terms of the impact it has on the individual genders. In addition, the incidents of disease as it is spread in relationship to industrialization, migration, occupational, urbanization, and geographical locality will be put into context with gender issues that relate to healthcare and wellbeing. 2. Gender and Health 2.1 Heart Disease Women’s health has been neglected in the sense that illnesses which have been researched in relationship to men’s health have not necessarily been researched in relationship to women’s health. Heart disease, as an example, manifests differently in women than it does in men but the research was lacking for many years, meaning that the care that women received was not given in relationship to the female body. Women have different symptoms and treatments for heart disease, but this was not known for long into the 20th century (Institute of Medicine 2010, p. 111). In the UK more men die from heart disease than do women, although this is not true in the United States where more women are dying from heart disease than men (Institute of Medicine 2010, p. 111:Stanner 2008, p. 282). In the UK, however, heart disease is the leading killer of women with one in six dying from complications or direct illnesses related to the heart (Stanner 2008, p. 282). Heart disease is primarily an environmentally influenced illness with smoking, high levels of cholesterol, stress, and a high BMI. One side note to consider, however, is that heart disease in France is much lower than in the UK, which is in conflict with the diets rich in fat and the large number of smokers in the nation. Stanner (2008, p. 283) suspects that this is due to cultural differences in stress as well as a possible measure of under reporting of death by heart disease related illness. In the UK smoking by women was not much seen before World War II, but since that time the rate of women smoking has risen until it exceeds that of the number of men who smoke (Wenger and Collins 2005, p.700). Smoking, as an example, is one of the ways in which lifestyle is important where heart disease is concerned. Gender is very important in relationship to treatment. Women are shown to have much higher death rate in comparison to men where PCI (Percutaneous Coronary Interventions) has been used. Social factors are considered the cause for this disparity primarily because women tend to be older when heart disease emerges. Wenger and Collins (2005, p. 329) discuss the nature of research in relationship to heart disease and that the social factors that cause differences are not always taken into consideration. This leaves a gap in information and causes lowered levels of treatment capacities for health care providers because the information is not fully available. 2.2 Cancer Schenck-Gustafsson (2012, p. 250) discusses the differences in the contraction of cancer between men and women. Men are at higher risk for cancer than are women. Social factors such as exposure to cigarette smoke in secondary atmospheres and higher uses of alcohol may contribute to the higher rate of cancer in men than women, even though more women than men are exposed to primary smoke. The problem with observable gender differences is that they have not been researched at length in relationship to the differences in physiology between men and women. Gender differences are sometimes more a matter of variation. As an example, when studying ovarian cancer, the study of cancer of the testes can be put into a relationship with the research because the male of the human species is actually a simple variant on the female template. When cancer of the ovaries is put into context with cancer of the testes under the heading of gonadal cancer, men have a higher incidence of the cancer than do females (Ellis et al 2008, p. 166). The difference that can be observed in most cancers where gender is concerned suggests that more men die of cancer than do women. Mortality rates for men as opposed to women in relationship to cancer are higher. In lung cancer, although both women and men are susceptible to the illness, men have a higher rate of mortality than do women. Men will generally have more incidents of lung cancer, but when put into context with smoking, women have a higher rate of the disease (Ellis et al 2008, p. 165: Schenk-Gustafsson 2008, p. 250). 2.3 Sexual Health Research into women’s health issues are mainly defined by sexual health problems and because of the cultural capacity in the UK for criminalizing women for any expression of sexuality, most of the initial work was based on the idea of mental health as opposed to physiological health. What took the place of substantive research into the health and wellbeing of women was transformed into making sexual expression pathological, thus attempting to control women in relationship to their female experience. Research into general health was centred on male health, the differences observed in women often relegated to the belief that it was a pathological difference based on sexual health, rather than based on a difference in physiology (Serrant-Green & McLuskey 2008, p. 28). Men’s sexual health, on the other hand, has been greatly ignored because of the procreative imperatives that are at the forefront of female sexual health. Serrant-Green & McLuskey, (2008) discuss that neglecting the male gender for sexual health has left a deficit in the overall health profiles of men within the United Kingdom. In 1975 the World Health Organization created a definition for sexual health by stating that it involves the emotional, somatic, social and intellectual welfare of the sexual being (Zenilman and Shahmanesh 2012, p. 329). In focusing only on the procreative forces that define human sexual health, the research into female physiology has been at the forefront with male sexual health being highly neglected. 3. Social Factors 3.1 Psychology and Pain One of the ways in which the factor of gender plays into the differences that can be observed in illness as it affects men and women is through their psychological acculturation where emotion and identity are concerned. Women are acculturated to express their pain where men are socialized to be impervious to the effects of pain and illness. Men are less likely to ask for help, to reveal the level of their pain unless a direct question is asked, and to express dissatisfaction with the level of pain management that has been accomplished. They are also less likely to seek out avenues of medical care than are women. Once a diagnosis of cancer, as an example, occurs there are observable patterns of health-care utilization that occur. Women are more likely to use programs of inpatient care than men at a rate of 85.8% to 85.1%. Women will use nursing care facilities at a rate of 28.2% in comparison to men at a rate of 23.1%. Home health services show a disparity of women to men at a rate of use of 49.8% to 41.5%. Hospice services are used more often by women than men at a rate of 53% compared to 48.6%. Another difference in the occasion of lung cancer is that men will more often have full lung removal where women will opt for a partial removal of the lung (Christler and McCreary 2010, p. 529). Young Hee, Hyunjeong, Kyung Suk, Wonshik, C., and Eun (2006, p. 461) report that gender differences in pain are insignificant, but that the treatment of women for their pain is often inadequately treated. Hoffman, Given, Von Eye, Given, and Gift, (2006, p. 404) also concluded that there was no difference between the level of pain experienced between men and women. Edrington, Paul, Dodd, West, Facione, Tripathy, and Miaskowski, (2004, p. 225) found no difference in treatment for pain between men and women, but decreased effectiveness for women in comparison to men. This brings into question why men were treated for their pain and the pain that women experienced was not adequately addressed. If treatment is not different, then what causes women to not respond when men are relieved of the burden of pain? Pieh, Altmeppen, Neumeier, Loew, Angerer, and Lahmann, (2012, p. 197) did a study of the responses to pain management between men and women. In this study, women did better in returning to daily life after establishing a pain management routine. What appears to occur is that there are differences in the perception, experience, and the capacity for treatment to be effective in women. In addition, women will more often express their level of pain than men, allowing for social differences in the expectations of men and women to play in as a factor. There is some evidence, however, that pain might be mitigated in men due to hormonal secretions that women do not have in their physiology (Joint Commission Resources, Inc 2003, p. 8). 3.2 Gender and Age Living to be a hundred appears to be a gender affected outcome. According to Emily Brandon (2013) of US News, people who live to be one hundred years old are factored at 100 women for every 20 men throughout the world. While the overall population in the world increased by 36.3% between 1980 and 2010, people who live to be one hundred have risen by 65. 8%. People who live to be 100 are typically more social, live in concentrated communities with little diversity, and continue to live with others into their late age. An urban environment, which comes as a surprise, is more conducive to long life than rural environments. In the UK there are 1.95 centenarians to every 10,000 people. In contrast, in Japan there are 3.43 people who are centenarians to every 10,000 of the population (Brandon 2013). Meanwhile, the disparity in life expectancy between men and women and betweenthose with means and those without, is a gap that is disconcerting and unacceptable to the UK government. According to research done by Morgan (2007, p. 36) there are “wide variations in life expectancy at 65 years. Men living in the Churchill Gardens estate can expect to live for another 13.6 years, whereas those living in Knightsbridge and Belgravia can expect to live 23 years following retirement”. It is worse for women where Morgan (2007, p. 36) reports that “For women aged 65 years the gap is even greater - future life expectancy ranges from 17.2 years in Churchill Gardens to 31.5 years in Little Venice, a difference of more than 14 years”. 3.3 The Spread of Disease Ethnic differences in the spread of disease are virtually eliminated when social factors are removed (Browning 2010, p. 63). Harmon (2010, p. 4) discusses that the factors that will influence the prevalence of disease have to do with the level of poverty, where they were born, their ethnic background, and their gender. Ethnicity as a factor must be exclusive to the physiological differences that have been found in some ethnicities rather than using it as a social method of control through spreading fallacies. The belief that ethnicity is a prominent factor in the spread of disease is left over for a social policy which was designed through the belief in eugenics, which must not be tolerated (Dorling, Shaw and Smith 2001, p. XIV). Social influences have a much greater impact on the spread of physical and mental health. Social factors have changed the nature of many issues throughout the UK. As an example, suicides among women fell dramatically throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but during the same period suicide among young men raised significantly, suggesting changes in general well-being have taken place. Ill health is primarily defined by socio-economic factors, however, and not by gender. Where there is poverty there is more illness. Ziol-Guest, Duncan, Kalil, and Boyce, (2012, p. 17289) studied the effect of an impoverished childhood on those who had worked their way out of poverty as adults. The results of the study showed that being brought up in an impoverished childhood increased the likelihood of chronic illnesses later in life which may be the result of immune deficiencies from poor diet and access to early health care. Gender becomes a factor where family configurations affect the nature of lifestyle. Children of lone parents are at a much higher risk of poverty and the effects of poverty as they relate to health than are children in a two parent home. In nations with better social systems, children of lone parents have a better chance of exceeding poverty level incomes (Chzhen and Bradshaw 2012, p. 487). People who fall below the low-income median of 60% are considered in poverty and of the total population in the UK 23% of the population is considered poor using this method of measure. The largest portion of this population is women due to child care issues, lower average incomes and pay, and lingering disparities in equal opportunity. Women typically still only earn 82% of the income of men (Sweetman 2010). With more women poor than men, the affect on their health in relationship to their poverty is more significant. Women are disadvantaged in relationship to the opportunities that men have which are typically not encumbered with childcare issues and have access to low wage jobs that are still higher than those that can be accessed as readily as women. 3.4 Patterns of the Spread of Disease The spread of HIV is particularly more prominent among women than among men. Heterosexual sex predominantly means that a woman takes in the fluids of a man, thus her exposure is significantly higher than that of a man. In addition, when pregnant, there is a significant chance of spreading the illness to the infant. In the UK HIV is highest in England with 91% of the cases reporting occurring there with a concentration in London (Smallman-Raynor and Cliff 2012, p. 140). The largest ethnic group living with HIV is African born immigrants into London. The gender disparity among the heterosexuals who are living with HIV is n=480 for women and n=224 for men. However, in contrast, white heterosexual men are at n=64 with women at n=29. This difference is associated with social and economic factors that affect the nature of sexual activity and drug use in impoverished sectors of London (Ibrahim, Anderson, Bukutu, and Elford, 2008, p. 616). The disparity between men and women is likely due to inequality as it manifests in social interactions between men and women (Great Britain 2008, p. 147). Socio-economic conditions have a major influence on patterns of disease and death rates. As has been discussed, levels of health directly correlate to the level of poverty that an individual lives. A significant change for children and for the hope of not growing up to have a higher rate of illness came with the institution of school lunch programs. In a study done through The Low Income Diet and Nutrition Survey between 2003 and 2005, it was observed that children who brought their lunch from home from low income communities typically had higher levels of fat and oils, with high sugared sweets included in their packed lunch (Stevens and Nelson 2011, p. 223). Changes in social services have provided for lowered incidents of illness in impoverished communities, including improved health care. However, poverty has increased in the last 40 years and has increased in the number of communities that have a section of the very poor under their population (Morgan 2007, p. 35). Conclusion Women have a greater difficulty where health is concerned than do men. Despite having greater overall health compared to men, they are burdened more by poverty, by the effects of inequality, and have less research done on the specific physiology of women accept where it relates to sexual health and reproduction. Pain management is a specific example of how physiology is very different and the responses to care come differently from men and women. Although health care and services to the poor have increased in the last century, there are still wide disparities that are affecting the mortality rate between lower socio-economic regions and those where wealth is more readily available. The spread of disease in areas of poverty is more interrelated than in those of higher wealth because of social factors that contribute to illness. Causation of illnesses has been shown to be primarily environmental through smoking, poor diet, and exposure to the environment, but this more often affects men than women. Women also outlive men when afflicted with Cancer, but are more likely to die from heart disease which is the leading cause of death among women. Social and cultural change affects the nature of illness through social provisions of services or increases in opportunity that supports higher levels of health. There is a significant difference in the effect and manifestation of illness between the genders, with social factors weighing heavily on women more so than men where poverty is concerned. Bibliography Brandon, E. (11 January 2013). What people who live to be 100 have in common. US News. [Online] Retrieved from http://health.yahoo.net/articles/healthcare/what- people-who-live-100-have-common (Accessed 12January 2013). Browning, D. J. (2010). Diabetic Retinopathy. Dordrecht: Springer. Chrisler, J. C., and McCreary, D. R. (2010). Handbook of gender research in psychology. London: Springer. Chzhen, Y., and Bradshaw, J. (2012). Lone parents, poverty and policy in the European Union. 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Early childhood poverty, immune-mediated disease processes, and adult productivity. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America, 17289-17293 Read More