The Psychology of Gender and Health

Conceptual and Applied Global Concerns

M. Pilar Sánchez-López, Rosa M. Limiñana-Gras

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780128038666
• Topic: Psychologie
• Subtopic: Psychologie du développement

The Psychology of Gender and Health: Conceptual and Applied Global Concerns examines the psychological aspects of the intersection between gender and health and the ways in which they relate to the health of individuals and populations. It demonstrates how gender should be strategically considered in the most routine research tasks—from establishing priorities, constructing theory, designing methodologies, in data interpretation, and how to practically apply this information in clinical contexts.

The topics covered in its chapters answer the needs of professionals, students, and faculty, providing an up-to-date conceptual tool that covers the relationships that exist between gender and health. The book will not only help users build expertise in psychology in gender and health, but also contribute to the awareness and training of psychologists as dynamic actors in the implementation of the gender perspective in their studies, reflections, research, and health interventions.

• Offers specific literature on the gender perspective in health and psychology
• Addresses a broad and diverse audience, and its coverage is uniquely comprehensive
• Utilizes an intersectional approach to race, class, sexual orientation, nationality, disability status, and age
• Updates on the pressing concerns of gender violence
• Covers specific content on transgender and same-sex attracted populations that includes a focus on men and masculinity
• Deals with hot topics on infertility, immigration, and HIV/AIDS

Chapter 1

Health From a Gender Perspective

The State of the Art

M.Pilar Sánchez-López¹, and Rosa M. Limiñana-Gras^{2 1}Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain ²University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain

Abstract

The chapter aims to present readers with a review of the most important concepts and developments around the area of gender and health. This will make it possible to correct skewing and stereotypes concerning gender that are common to the general public as well as students of and professional workers in psychology.

In the first section a brief description is given of the social, economic, physical, and psychological factors needed for an adequate study of health, including gender analysis intersecting all of them.

The second section brings together all the most up-to-date conceptualizations regarding sex and gender, and the relation between the two. Gender, understood as the result of interactions in a specific cultural and social context, and separated from being considered as a stable attribute of an individual, is presented to us here as a much more complex, changing reality, which stresses the social and cultural nature of differentiation between what is feminine and what is masculine by questioning essentialist and/or dichotomous definitions.

In the third section, the main results in health are explored from a gender viewpoint. The need to underline the inclusion of gender-related variables to be able to correctly evaluate the set of causes of health differences is stressed. There is a description of the need to always incorporate sex and gender–based analysis (SGBA) in the planning and preparation of health policies, because this tool makes possible a greater understanding of differences between people regarding epidemiology, illnesses, and treatments. There is also a review of the main gender approaches in research, how they are integrated into different theoretical frameworks, and the repercussion they have in programs, projects, policies, and results in health. From psychology the integration of these approaches is carried out from a differential, multidimensional approach, giving an account both of the impact exerted by sex and gender on health and the development of different important masculinities and femininities that are important for health. Integration of sex and gender into health analysis faces us with the challenge of incorporating tools and measures to enable us to correctly interpret the results obtained in the research, making these dimensions sufficiently operative. This is the purpose of the last part of this section. It answers the need to “measure” gender by proposing the concept of the social gender norm of Mahalik (2000) and Mahalik et al. (2003, 2005) to make the gender role operative. This approach provides a gender variable that is multidimensional and regardless of sex, and valid for incorporation from the beginning of evaluations or researches.

Finally, the fourth section aims to illustrate how gender interacts with social determinants by generating inequalities that affect health in different stages and contexts. Finally, postnatal paternal depression is one more example of simplifying differences in health from a biological and reproductive model.

The chapter ends by offering a panoramic view of the other chapters of the book, the topic of which has been referred to throughout the whole of this first chapter, which serves as an introduction to this volume, the Psychology of Gender and Health: Conceptual and Applied Global Concerns.

Keywords

Gender approach in research; Health and gender; Sex and gender; Sex and gender–based analysis (SGBA)

The complex construct of gender interacts with biological and genetic differences to create health conditions, situations and problems that are different for women and men as individuals and as population groups. This interaction, and how it plays out across different age, ethnic and income groups, should be understood by health providers and health policy makers. (p. 102)

United Nations (1998) Report, Women and Health, Mainstreaming the Gender Perspective into the Health Sector

The concept of health, as well as the responsibilities toward the target population of health interventions, has been changing and evolving in parallel and in response to the historic changes in the sociopolitical context. Although the biomedical model, referring almost exclusively to biological factors, is still in force in biotechnological applications in the field of health, the current conception of health recognizes and underscores ever more inclusively the relevance of psychological, social, economic, and political aspects that interact as determinants of health, emphasizing that the concept of health is not only a scientific issue, but also social and political, understanding as such the relationships of power within society.

In this sense, gender, as a central analytical category in health studies, has contributed to the development of this extensive concept of health, turning into an increasingly expanding field of research. Its development, both in the fields of biomedical and of social sciences, will facilitate the promotion of policies that recognize its magnitude and importance in public health issues.

This chapter aims to provide readers with a review of the most relevant concepts and developments concerning gender and health, which will allow correcting gender biases and stereotypes that are common both in the general public and among psychology students and professionals. In the first sections, we present a brief description of the necessary social, economic, physical, and psychological factors for the adequate study of health, including gender analysis at the intersection with all of them, and the most current conceptualizations of sex and gender and their relationship will be developed. Gender, understood as the result of interactions in a specific social and cultural context, and far from its consideration as a stable attribute of the individual, is presented herein as a much more complex and changing reality that emphasizes the social and cultural nature of the distinction between feminine and masculine, questioning essentialist (West & Zimmerman, 1987) or dichotomous definitions. We insist on the need to include gender-related variables in order to correctly assess the set of causes that produce differences in health, and we review the main approaches to gender in research, their integration in different theoretical frameworks, and their impact on health programs, projects, policies, and outcomes.

From psychology the integration of these approaches is carried out from a differential, multidimensional approach, accounting for the impact of sex and gender on health and the development of diverse health-relevant masculinities and femininities. The integration of sex and gender in the analysis of health also imposes the challenge of incorporating tools and measures that permit a correct interpretation of research outcomes, adequately operationalizing these dimensions. Finally, this chapter also aims to illustrate, with some examples, how gender interacts with social determinants, generating inequalities that affect health in different stages and contexts.

Determinants of Health

The appropriate approach to the study of health, both of the individual and the population, must take into account all the social, economic, physical, and psychological factors liable to have some influence on health, and it must provide the necessary indicators to clarify, guide, implement, and evaluate health interventions. In general, it is usually accepted that these determinants comprise factors such as income and social status, social support perceived by people, the level of schooling, employment (or its lack) and conditions at work, the social and physical environment, health habits, the person’s development across the life cycle, their biological and genetic heritage (including their sex), the health-related services of their environment, culture (ethnic and cultural identity), life conditions, geographic location, age, sexual orientation, personal characteristics, and many other factors. Along with and interacting with them, gender is also a determinant of health.

These determinants may influence the risks, possibilities, behaviors, and manifestations of health and illness throughout a person’s life. All the factors, and the interactions among them, are important in order to enjoy good health; they create the ecological niches, the varied and complex situations that, interacting with personal characteristics, allow each individual to display healthy or unhealthy behaviors that will influence health, and that will vary from one population to another and from one group/individual to another within the same population (Greaves, 2011; Johnson, Greaves, & Repta, 2007).

The influence of each of these determinants on people’s health can vary depending on their sex and gender. Deepening our knowledge and understanding of the role played by sex and gender in health can contribute to improving the health of individuals and populations. It is known that sex can influence health; for example, women and men who suffer from the same disease may present different symptoms (eg, myocardial infarction) and may respond differentially to drugs and treatments (eg, to psychotropic drugs), depending on their hormonal, physiological, and morphological characteristics. Or some diseases (eg, prostate cancer) only affect one of the two sexes, affect one more massively (eg, breast cancer), or have different consequences for men than for women (eg, smoking appears ever more clearly as a risk factor for breast cancer in women).

It is also known that gender is another important factor that influences health. For example, take the case of respiratory diseases caused by poor combustion of cooking materials, which are more common among women because owing to the traditional female role, women normally spend more time cooking. Also note that the different roles and responsibilities that are assigned to a person as a function of being male or female, which, for example, can cause masculinity to be associated with force, resistance, and, in short, with resilience. This can influence men who accept this masculine role to be reluctant to ask for help or consult health professionals, and to be more prone to take risks and have accidents (World Health Organization [WHO], 2007). In contrast, traditional femininity is associated with delicacy and softness, which can cause women who accept this rule to consider it inappropriate for them to participate in physical activities. This attitude can damage their health, both physically and mentally (Observatorio de Salud de la Mujer, 2005).

Thus the level of health of a person or a population can improve or worsen depending on the presence of multiple factors that interact with each other. These factors are of different types and include characteristics ranging from the individual to the social, work, environmental, and health contexts. The inclusion of the gender perspective in the analysis of these factors involves assessing how g...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Foreword
• Chapter 1. Health From a Gender Perspective: The State of the Art
• Part I. Conceptual Approaches for Gender and Health
• Part II. Clinical and Health Contexts
• Index