Article V: Health and Gender Gap
Reflection Tag: It may come as a surprise to some that there hasn’t always been equality in the realm of health and gender between women and men, even in places considered to be more abundant with equality for women such as the United States. Though medicine has gotten better, there is still evidence that there is still a health and gender gap. In places like Africa and the Middle East where there is still a lot of rampant sexism this comes as no surprise, but a closer look at American history can often leave people very surprised in regard to ideas of health and gender.
When many people think about health and gender they probably do not think much about it. If you are sick you go to the doctor, few rarely think longer about it than that. However, it is becoming very clear that there is a lot of issues that have resulted in the health and gender gap. Gender roles have long affected how men and women get represented within the medical field and until men and women reach equilibrium there can often be much unfairness between the genders in regard to medical treatment.
Having evolved from a patrilineal lineage, the USA has had a weird evolution in regards to gender and the medical world. Being seen as the masculine providers, men are often seen today within America as being weary of the doctor. They do not want to spend money, be poked or prodded. They go to the doctor only when necessary. Women on the other hand have the reputation of being the more persistent gender in regard to health. They take their children, urge their husband, are expected to live longer. This is very surprising since it wasn’t to long ago when most experiments were geared primarily towards helping men. It was thought that since women were simply “little men” finding a cure for one would help the other. It hasn’t been very long since scientists have discovered that the genders do in fact behave quite differently. After years of bogus medical solutions and medical experiments, women are finally starting to get the care and information that they nee to live successful healthy lives. Unfortunately its taken a very long time to do so.
There is a strong divide between gender and health because there has been, historically, a large divide in medicine and treatment in regards to men and women. Thought of for a long time as hysteric birth givers, women have not always been taken very seriously in the medical world. For years men told women about their bodies when they had no idea what they were talking about. In America we live in a society where women are sometimes deemed as weaker and men are generally stereotyped as being the more stubborn. In countries like Africa and the Middle East, where women have very little voice, many are neglected in regards to health and are subjected to terrible conditions in comparison to their male counter parts. It is only once the genders are viewed with equal respect and importance that there will ever be a world where ignorance and stereotypes do not go hand in hand with the medical practices of the world.
