Gender stereotypes affect the health of men and women all around the world.  Factors that lead to these differences include genetics, chromosome assortment, symptomologies and occupations.  Women seem to face more social stress due to care taking, nursing, while men seem to face more physical stress such as lifting heavy objects and working in more dangerous environments (Regitz-Zagrosek 2012).  Men and women also face different symptoms for common diseases.  For example, men and women have different symptoms for cardiovascular diseases including heart attacks.  Women get abdominal pain, discomfort in the neck and jaw, shortness of breath, stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting.  Men get chest pain, discomfort to the shoulders and back, and sweating.  Until 1990 the difference of symptomology led scientists to believe that women were unaffected by cardiovascular disease.  This is because women were thought of as “little men” and were therefore excluded from research studies.  Female exclusion from research studies have led to the lack or slow progression towards women’s health rights such as no pay while on maternity leave (Scientific American 2017).

Gender stereotypes have influenced individual behaviors that have led to these health differences between men and women.  Most men refuse to go to the doctor’s due to the fact that they would be seen as “weak” or “lacking” of their masculinity.  This most likely leads to the lack of data on men, given certain conditions such as depression and osteoporosis.  It is hard for men to admit that they are hurt or injured, especially if that condition could lead to embarrassment (Cleveland Clinic 2016).  Women are more often the care takers of the family which gives them inspiration to seek medical care more often.  Women and men also differ with mental illnesses due to their occupations or different life experiences.  More men tend to suffer from PTSD because of military deployments and exposures to life or death situations.  While women can also obtain PTSD from sexual harassment, the amount of these cases are minimal compared to military expenditures(Olff- NCBI 2017).  According to the Lancet Psychiatry, women are more likely to face gender related violence which influences the status of their mental health.

These violent encounters such as sexual harassment, domestic violence, and trafficking greatly impact a woman’s self image and sense of security.  These horrid encounters often lead to severe depression and low self confidence (Lancet Psychiatry 2016).  Power inequalities such as male domination in the workplace leads to the manipulation of the “weaker” sex (women) and gives way to many types of harassment.  According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, harassment towards women in the workplace has discouraged them to move up the ladder causing a huge gap initiating the gender wage gap (Shaw 2018).  In India, patriarchy is the biggest inducer affecting women’s mental health.  Caste discrimination, very similar to America’s “southern prejudice’, have affected the outraging reported cases of mental illness in women today.  Women cannot have high positions within the Caste system which leads to extreme violence and discrimination to women who try to stand up for their human rights.