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Inequalities of Gender and Health 1857–1985: A Long‐run Perspective from the Melbourne Lying‐In Hospital Birth Cohort
Author(s) -
McCalman Janet,
Morley Ruth
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.tb00088.x
Subject(s) - casual , cohort , project commissioning , inequality , poverty , lying , disadvantage , demography , government (linguistics) , shadow (psychology) , demographic economics , sociology , economic growth , history , publishing , political science , economics , medicine , law , psychology , mathematical analysis , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , psychotherapist , radiology
This paper reviews the Australian historical record in health and gender inequalities since the mid nineteenth century through to the end of the twentieth century, using survival data from an historical cohort of impoverished people born in the Melbourne Lying‐In Hospital between 1857 and 1900. This data reveals the long shadow cast by disadvantage in early life and the critical importance of secure households in supporting infancy and childhood. Above all, the income security and support of mothers, was critical to survival of infants and children, and those households trapped in the casual economy, remained the most vulnerable to premature death. Only the improvements in labour force regulation, government employment and trade education after World War II, broke the cycle of poverty that had persisted in Australia since the earliest days of European settlement.