Gender And Health

Question 1

What is sex and what is gender

Answer 1

Sex is the biological differences between men and women

Gender is an identity constructed by men and women based on how they act or behave and think in a society. It is the social, cultural and psychological differences between men and women

Question 2

What dictates how men and women should act

Answer 2

Society, especially in the earlier times with patriarchal societies and the dominance of men

Question 3

Men vs women roles traditionally were

Answer 3

Men: power, independence, ruling and control, family’s image, “man of the house” representing a home, could take on large spaces.

Women: vulnerability, dependence, obeying, raising children, take on small spaces, family refashions.

They were socialized from a very early age to be different

Question 4

What were traditional male activities/ things they could do

Answer 4

• hard powerful jobs
• working in the fields, going out
• could be violent against children or wife
• voting
• smoking and drinking

Question 5

What were traditional female activities?

Answer 5

Housekeeping
Raising children
Going outside must be accompanied by a male
Must obey husband, and not react to their violence
Voting was prohibited until beginning of 20th century
Is smoked or drank they were stigmatized

Question 6

Has gender segregation changed

Answer 6

A lot has changed but there are still activities that are social considered as more male or more female

• university subjects
• types of jobs
• managerial positions
• socioeconomic class
• politics
• smoking and drinking

Question 7

Gender is ___ constructed

Answer 7

Socially constructed

Question 8

Do men and women have equal opportunities in modern societies

Answer 8

No:
In socioeconomic positions women are less likely to participate in decision making processes

In divorce, women are more likely to be a single mother without the help of a father

There is a gender gap of 17% in pay- women make less

Women are more likely to be under the poverty line due to the fact they were less likely to be employed in the past, they earn less and more likely to work as part timers.

Yes:
Traditionally men were more likely to be educated and be employed – nowadays women are educated and employed as much as men are

Question 9

Womens work tends to be ___

Answer 9

Underestimated, and not taking into account the multiple roles of a women is society:

Mother
Employee
Housewife

Question 10

Do these social conditions for women play a role in their health?

Question 11

Life expectancy now, the 19th century and the 16th/17th centuries?

Answer 11

Now: women live longer than men, there is a biological advantage

19th century: similar life expectancy for the 2 (infectious diseases were handled, medicine provided women a safer environment to give birth)

16th: male advantage (women were more vulnerable to infectious deceases and female mortality at birth delivery was high)

Question 12

Mortality in men and women

Answer 12

Men die more often from: car accidents, heart disease, lung cancer

Women: more likely to attempt suicide but men are more likely to commit it

Question 13

Morbidity between men and women

Answer 13

No differences between them

Men more likely to suffer cardiovascular diseases (coronary hear disease) and lung cancer. Women are likely to suffer Alzheimer’s

Question 14

In morbidity

List the 3 disorders

Answer 14

Disorders of thought
Disorders of emotion
Disorders of behaviour

Question 15

Give an example of a disorder of thought

Answer 15

Psychoses

Question 16

Is psychoses (disorder of thought) more prevalent in men or women

Answer 16

Gender neutral

Question 17

Is schizophrenia (disorder of thought) higher in men or women

Answer 17

Gender Neutral but higher in younger men

Question 18

Name 3 disorders of emotion

Answer 18

• depression
• anxiety
• phobias

Question 19

Who is more likely to suffer emotional disorders

Answer 19

Women

Question 20

What is a disorder of behaviour

Answer 20

Behaviour and personality disorders such as alcohol and drug abuse

Question 21

Who is more likely to have behavioural disorders

Answer 21

Men

Question 22

What do you think are the social reasons behind the differences in mortality/ morbidity between men and women?

Question 23

To summarize

Answer 23

Women and socially disadvantaged than men however they live longer then men.

The is no difference in morbidity rates but men are more likely to slugger heart/ lung disease or cancer while women more likely to suffer Alzheimer’s

Question 24

CASE

Yiannis Georgiou is 60 years old and is rushed to the hospital after he collapsed at home. At the emergencies, doctors manage to keep him alive and run all necessary tests in order to understand what the problem was. Yiannis’ wife, Cynthia, gives doctors a clue: “He complained of strong chest pain and then passed out”. Doctors diagnose a heart attack which resulted from chronic heart disease. Yiannis wakes up the day after. Doctors inform him about what happened and that he has to take medication, change his lifestyle and may need surgery in the near future

Answer 24

What might be the social reasons why Yiannis developed heart disease?

Question 25

Why do women live longer then men?

Answer 25

Social and biological factors

Question 26

Life expectancy and mortality are affected by both ___ and _____ factors

Answer 26

Social and biological

Question 27

Men were more likely to die early cause

Answer 27

Men did more dangerous jobs: mining, oil rig work, fishing,
constructions and heavy industry

Men are more likely to be risk takers and undertake dangerous activities (men are dumb): dangerous sports (i.e. hang-gliding), car and motorbike racing, rock-climbing, criminal activity etc

They drive carelessly: majority of ppl killed in car accidents are men

Lifestyle choices: males smoke more 21% of male deaths vs 13% of female due to smoking in the UK

Through serious chronic diseases men are less likely than women to read symptoms effectively and to seek help early

Question 28

What about morbidity. We know that men are more likely to have cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer, whereas women are more likely to have AD. Why?

Answer 28

Women report more symptoms and consult clinicians more often

Men are more likley to suffer cardiovasc disease and lung cancer due to lifestyle (smoking alcohol)

Women suffer more from AD: apart from biological reasons this is due to poor cognitive reserve and lack of prior exercise

Question 29

Yiannis is concerned with lifestyle changes. He explains to the doctor that he has been smoking and drinking since he was 15 years old. This is something he enjoys doing with his friends. “You know doctor, I have a life. I am alive when I go with my friends at restaurants to eat kebab and drink, to watch soccer and talk. There are no friends without drinking”.

Answer 29

Read case

Question 30

Why is Yiannis not willing to change his lifestyle?

Answer 30

• masculinity

Question 31

Explain masculinity as an influential factor of not quitting smoking

Answer 31

It is the underlying force for mens more risky behaviour

It’s mens social identity: what defines somebody as a man

Question 32

What is the most influential type of masculinity

Answer 32

Hegemonic masculity

Question 33

What is hegemonic masculinity

Answer 33

It is linked with authority/ power, paid work, physical strength and heterosexuality (classic finance bro)

Question 34

How may one achieve hegemonic masculity

Answer 34

Involve themselves in dangerous activities = physical strength and power
Smoking and heavy alcohol are considered a “tough” male habit

Note: Research shows that men tend to believe that health is a womens job

Question 35

Masculinity means men not wanting to behave in ways as other people perceive as

Answer 35

Feminine

Question 36

Hegemonic masculinity is __ nature

Answer 36

2nd nature

Question 37

Interestingly the gap between men and women in life expectancy is decreasing while more and more women tend to die from cardiovascular disease and lung cancer.

Why?

Answer 37

This has to do with the reasons why the gender gap in life expectancy is getting smaller

• Women are increasingly adopting a mans way of life
• More and more women are heavy smokers
• More and more women are heavy drinkers
• Women’s diet is getting unhealthy
• Women increasingly undertake more dangerous activities

Question 38

What has caused yiannis condition

Answer 38

Based on research evidence, Yiannis’ condition might have been caused by smoking and unhealthy diet

Question 39

Why has yiannis behaved dangerously

Answer 39

His behaviour relates to masculinity and the ways to reaffirm his male identity – to be accepted as a “real” male in community and not to be taken as a “feminine” man.

Masculinity is Yiannis’ 2nd nature and this why it is not easy for him to make life-style changes

Question 40

To summarize

Answer 40

The higher mortality rates among men are attributed to dangerous jobs and activities as well as lifestyle

➢ Any differences in mortality are associated with lifestyle, though there is no difference in the overall morbidity between the genders

➢ Masculinity is a leading force behind men’s activities, lifestyle, risk taking and health literacy

Question 41

Answer 41

B. Disorders of behaviour

Question 42

Answer 42

C. Masculinity and strategy