Género y salud en la prensa diaria

To have a better understanding on the role of the press in the communication of gender and health issues, the content of the five most spread newspapers in Spain was studied (El País, ABC, El Mundo, La Vanguardia and El Periódico de Catalunya) for five years (1997-2001) and the electronic version of The New York Times of the period 1990-1999. An unequal distribution was observed in the responsibility as for the information related to three aspects: positions of responsibility in the newspapers (out of 71 main posts, 67 were men and 4 women); the authors of the articles on health issues (61.2% men and 38,8% women, among the articles that include the author) and the mentioned information sources (81.43% men and 17.77% women). Among the 120 health issues that were covered during the period of the study, only 20 explicitly mentioned a woman (16.67%). Those subjects that included more frequently explicit references were: ablation, iatrogenics, sterilization, sexual and reproductive health, incontinence, beauty and domestic violence. The analysis of the approach to these subjects helped to identify the stereotypes of gender inequality, in the language as well as in the approach.