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Gender in/and/of Health Inequalities
Author(s) -
Broom Dorothy
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.2008.tb00087.x
Subject(s) - inequality , socioeconomic status , dimension (graph theory) , health equity , public health , social determinants of health , sociology , social inequality , position (finance) , population health , raising (metalworking) , project commissioning , publishing , health policy , health care , population , political science , economic growth , economics , medicine , demography , law , mathematics , mathematical analysis , nursing , geometry , finance , pure mathematics
The relationship between gender and health inequalities is potentially complicated, raising questions for health and social research, practice and policy. In this paper, I use two population health case studies – obesity and smoking – to explore the interplay between gender and socioeconomic position. The cases show that, on its own, neither dimension of inequality affords a comprehensive picture of these significant risks to public health. Furthermore, historical change in the socioeconomic and gendered distribution of these health risks suggests that gender is best considered as a dynamic and layered form of differentiation, rather than as a simple or stable dichotomy. A more nuanced approach to the analysis of gender and health has the potential to generate both more fruitful research and more effective health and social policy.