Health and Community Together
Michael Fine, James W. Peters, Robert S. Lawrence in The Nature of Health, 2018
One major measure of the relationship between social capital and health is a measure called income inequality on the one hand, and longevity and infant mortality on the other hand. Income inequality is exactly what the name suggests, a measure of the difference between rich and poor in absolute dollar terms. In some countries, the richest 20 percent of the population may earn five times the incomes of the poorest 20 percent of the population. In other countries the richest 20 percent may earn 100 times the incomes of the poorest 20 percent. Income inequality may, and often does, change over time. The change in income inequality in one country over time can be seen as a measure of the relative social cohesion of a place at different times in the history of the place. The greater the income equality, the greater the social cohesion of a place at any given time; the greater the income inequality, the more likely it is that people in a place are not taking care of one another and, worse, more likely to be in conflict, or risk conflict emerging. In the same way, income inequality can be used to compare places: if one place has more income inequality than another place, the place with more income inequality is the place where people are more likely to be in conflict (and to perceive themselves as unhealthy, and to have shorter life spans).
Women in research
Wendy A. Rogers, Jackie Leach Scully, Stacy M. Carter, Vikki A. Entwistle, Catherine Mills in The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Bioethics, 2022
Gender health inequalities are in part caused by unequal distribution of the social determinants of health. These are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age; they include socioeconomic status, education and employment, physical environment and social networks, as well as access to healthcare (Marmot and Allen 2014). Globally girls and women are likely to experience reduced access to educational opportunities, greater poverty, higher health burden, vulnerability to domestic abuse and the silencing of their political voice. Girls and women experience specific health burdens relating to reduced access to nutrition and healthcare, reproductive risk, as well as from exposure to house and workplace environmental hazards. Men by comparison are more likely to experience and die from physical workplace injuries (Stergiou-Kita et al. 2015; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2019). Maternal morbidity remains high in many countries of the Global South, due to limited health infrastructure, a lack of trained birth attendants and unsafe abortions (Macklin 2001). Women are more likely to live in poverty than men, and globally women are paid 23% less than men on average. Gender intersects with other forms of inequality such as race, income and class. For example, as a group, low-income women of color are disproportionately exposed to hazardous chemicals in the places where they work and live (UNDP 2011).
What is the relevance of sociology for health promotion?
Robin Bunton, Gordon Macdonald in Health Promotion, 2003
There have been many sociological studies that demonstrate the effect of gender. Inequality in almost all areas of social life is structured along gender lines, whether this be in employment, education, wealth, family life, or even linguistic use (see, for example, Rowbotham 1974; Stanworth 1983; Barker and Allen 1976; Brannen and Wilson 1986; Spender 1980, amongst many others). This is no less true for health. In the UK the main gender division in relation to health is the difference in morbidity and morality rates. Overall, men have a higher rate of mortality, women a higher rate of morbidity. As Armstrong put it: ‘In summary, women get ill but men die’ (1989:46). Sociology’s role is to unravel why this should be so. What are the social processes that led to this difference in experience? Or indeed is there a purely biological explanation? Whilst there are some diseases that are biologically sex specific (gynaecological ones for instance), it is also true that most diseases affect both sexes. Indeed, as Armstrong (1989) goes on to point out, in other social systems the mortality/morbidity patterns are reversed, so it seems that the explanations are social rather than biological.
Privilege, White Identity, and Motivation: A Call to Action in Social Work
Published in Journal of Progressive Human Services, 2019
Andrew J. Fultz, David C. Kondrat
Social work and other helping professions have not simply stood by and viewed inequality as happening in vacuum. Inequality is the product of individual and collective interpretation, creation, and maintenance of difference (Plaut, 2010). Plaut (2010) in her seminal article calls for a diversity science which looks at systematic inequality in ways outlined above. Plaut argued that a further developed understanding of how racial identity develops for and is understood by White individuals is one of the critical components of further understanding how the creation and maintenance of difference and inequality occurs through a sociocultural lens. This is a role that social work can play in joining what Plaut (2010) argues must be an interdisciplinary approach. Yet, the profession must guard against perpetuating privilege and power and the disenfranchisement of clients through unexamined practices. Our methods and focuses may have shifted in different ways for a myriad of reasons, but we find ourselves at the intersection of a society primed to move forward or backward.
Household decision-making power and the mental health and well-being of women initiating antiretroviral treatment in Oromia, Ethiopia
Published in AIDS Care, 2018
Angela M. Parcesepe, Olga Tymejczyk, Robert Remien, Tsigereda Gadisa, Sarah Gorrell Kulkarni, Susie Hoffman, Zenebe Melaku, Batya Elul, Denis Nash
Gender inequality has been identified as a key structural determinant of HIV vulnerability among women and has been associated with inconsistent condom use, transactional sex, and sexually transmitted infections (Agrawal, Bloom, Suchindran, Curtis, & Angeles, 2014; Amin, 2015; Bloom, Agrawal, Singh, & Suchindran, 2015). Gender inequality can take many forms including unequal household decision-making power, unequal access to economic, household or educational resources, and discriminatory laws and policies. Among women in South Africa, low sexual relationship power, one form of gender inequality, has been associated with higher likelihood of HIV seropositivity (Dunkle et al., 2004). An ecological analysis of 133 countries found that greater gender inequality was associated with having a primarily heterosexual HIV epidemic, suggesting that structural inequalities drive women’s health at individual and population levels (Richardson et al., 2014). Among men in Ethiopia, gender-equitable attitudes were associated with condom use (Pulerwitz, Michaelis, Verma, & Weiss, 2010).
Sexual health of adolescent girls and young women in Central Uganda: exploring perceived coercive aspects of transactional sex
Published in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 2020
Nambusi Kyegombe, Rebecca Meiksin, Joyce Wamoyi, Lori Heise, Kirsten Stoebenau, Ana Maria Buller
Transactional sex is perpetuated by a number of structural drivers which can be conceptualised as social or environmental factors that affect individuals’ choices and behaviours:32 for example, the absence of condoms in a person’s local community restricts their ability to practice safer sex. Social structures shape people’s behaviour, agency, and preferences and are often underpinned by social norms,33 which in turn direct transactional sex relationship dynamics. Transactional sex is also driven by AGYW’s need to overcome gendered economic disadvantages and deprivations that increase their vulnerability. This includes inequality in access to education and information, violence against women and girls, limited livelihood options and economic dependence on men.34–36 Social factors include AGYW’s desire to compete for social status amongst peer groups. Within the context of globalisation, social status is increasingly associated with material consumption.18,22 Furthermore, transactional sex is also driven by normative expectations of courtship, which remain highly gendered. Men are expected to demonstrate their interest and investment in a relationship through material provision8,18,22,29,37–40 and women are expected to provide sexual access in exchange for material support.6,8,9,27,29,37,40
Related Knowledge Centers
- Hormone
- Androgen
- Testosterone
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- Stereotype
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- Sex-Selective Abortion
- Maternal Death
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