Gender Health

"Women are affected adversely both by unequal access to and institutionalized sexism in the health care industry. Women experienced a decline in their ability to see needed specialists between 2001 and 2008, and in 2008, one quarter of females questioned the quality of their health care. Intersection theory suggests that we cannot separate the effects of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and other attributes. Women categorized as low income were more likely than other women, 32 percent compared to 23 percent, to express concerns about health care quality. Women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with certain kinds of mental disorders, and critics argue that borderline personality disorder has been used as a catch-all diagnosis for too many women. Many critics also point to the medicalization of women’s issues, including menstruation, pre-menstrual syndrome, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause. Social support can relieve pain and anxiety during childbirth as effectively as medical support, and women with supportive partners experienced less medical intervention and fewer cases of postpartum depression. Access to quality birth care outside standard medical models may not be readily available to women of all social classes."