The intersections of gender and class in health status and health care

Abstract

It is increasingly recognized that different axes of social power relations, such as gender and class, are interrelated, not as additive but as intersecting processes. This paper has reviewed existing research on the intersections between gender and class, and their impacts on health status and access to health care. The review suggests that intersecting stratification processes can significantly alter the impacts of any one dimension of inequality taken by itself. Studies confirm that socio-economic status measures cannot fully account for gender inequalities in health. A number of studies show that both gender and class affect the way in which risk factors are translated into health outcomes, but their intersections can be complex. Other studies indicate that responses to unaffordable health care often vary by the gender and class location of sick individuals and their households. They strongly suggest that economic class should not be analysed by itself, and that apparent class differences can be misinterpreted without gender analysis. Insufficient attention to intersectionality in much of the health literature has significant human costs, because those affected most negatively tend to be those who are poorest and most oppressed by gender and other forms of social inequality. The programme and policy costs are also likely to be high in terms of poorly functioning programmes, and ineffective poverty alleviation and social and health policies.

Health impacts of pedestrian head-loading: A review of the evidence with particular reference to women and children in sub-Saharan Africa

“…Intersections between socio-economic status, gender and age require particular attention outside commercial porterage (which is commonly associated with low status): class is often a gendered phenomenon, hitting women before it affects men (Sen et al 2007;Iyer et al 2008). Nor do existing studies allow analysis of differential impacts of head-loading according to type of load, duration, frequency or terrain (weight is sometimes, but not always, included in analyses) or -crucially in African contexts -whether the head-loader is also carrying a child.…”

Integrating Identities: An Innovative Bioarchaeological and Biogeochemical Approach to Analyzing the Multiplicity of Identities in the Mortuary Record

“…Such an approach would add temporal depth to our understanding of the nonadditive effects of multiple social and biological dimensions of identity on health. This is particularly important given how little empirical evidence there is for such interactions in living populations (Iyer, Sen, and Ostlin 2008), despite their potential important implications for public health policy and intervention strategies (Bauer 2014).…”

Gender inequity in health: why it exists and how we can change it

“…While the above is true for women as a whole vis-à-vis men, there can be significant differences among women themselves based on age or lifecycle status, as well as on the basis of economic class, race, caste, and ethnicity. The paper by Iyer, Sen, and Ö stlin (2008) is included in this Special Supplement, highlights the importance of a methodological approach based on the concept of intersectionality. It suggests that intersecting stratification processes can significantly alter the impacts of any one dimension of inequality taken by itself.…”