Stereotyping Gender Roles and its Impact on Health

Contents

Introduction

What are Gender Roles?

How do Gender Stereotypes Affect People?

Gender Roles & Its Impact on Health

Gender Differences in Determinants and Consequences of Health

Conclusion

References

Acknowledgement

First, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Almighty Allah.

I am highly thankful to our honorable faculty member Lecturer Manila Khisa ma’am who gave me an opportunity to work upon this topic and made me present my views on topic through term paper.

Abstract

This paper is about gender stereotypes and considers how these relate to gender differences in important life outcomes. I have covered some of the important issues regarding this topic and tried to give a clear conception of gender roles and its impact on health. This paper can benefit the fair judgment of individuals in situations where gender stereotypes are likely to play a role. It illustrates that gender interacts with the social, economic and biological determinants and consequences of tropical diseases to create different health outcomes for males and females.

Keywords: Gender Identity, Gender Stereotype, Health, Non-Communicable Diseases.

Stereotyping Gender Roles and Its Impact on Health

Introduction

There are many differences between males and females. However, stereotypical expectancies no longer simplest reflect existing variations, but additionally effect the manner women and men define themselves and are treated through others. Gender stereotypes are preconceived ideas whereby females and males are illogically assigned traits and roles determined and restricted by means of their gender. It can limit the development of the natural talents and competencies of girls and boys, women and men, in addition to their educational and professional experiences and lifestyles opportunities in general. Basically, the women are the main victim of gender stereotyping. In some cases, men are also the sufferer of gender stereotyping. Stereotyping gender roles effect on health and it is vital to perceive how gender interacts with the determinants and results of fitness and contamination. The biological, economic and social determinants and consequences of tropical diseases and analyzes how gender interacts with these factors to create different outcomes consequences for women and men.

What are Gender Roles?

Gender role became first created by way of John Money in 1955, throughout his observe of intersex people, to define the manners in which these individuals expressed their popularity as a male or lady in a scenario where no clear organic mission existed.

Gender role is a social function. It is ‘a fixed of expectations related to the belief of masculinity and femininity’. It is one among many different social roles; it frequently leads to the notion of gender roles as natural. Gender roles in society method how we are expected to behave, speak, dress, groom, and behavior ourselves based upon our assigned sex. For instance, women and girls are typically expected to get dressed in commonly feminine ways and be well mannered, accommodating, and nurturing. Men are generally predicted to be healthy, competitive, and challenging. A gender function, additionally called sex role, is a social function encompassing more than a few behaviors and attitudes which might be commonly considered ideal, suitable, or suitable for people based on their actual or perceived sex or sexuality. Gender roles are commonly centered on conceptions of femininity and masculinity, even though there are exceptions and versions. Every society, ethnic group, and tradition has gender role expectancies, but they can be very one-of-a-kind from institution to group. They also can exchange inside the identical society over the years. For example, red was considered a masculine color in the U.S. At the same time as blue became taken into consideration feminine.

How do Gender Stereotypes Affect People?

A stereotype is a broadly widespread judgment or bias about someone or institution although it’s overly simplified and no longer constantly accurate. Stereotypes approximately gender can cause unequal and unfair treatment due to a person’s gender. This is referred to as sexism.

There are four primary styles of gender stereotypes:

- Personality trends- as an instance, ladies are regularly expected to be accommodating and emotional, at the same time as men are typically predicted to be self-assured and aggressive.
- Domestic behaviors- for example, some people assume that women will contend with the kids, prepare dinner, and smooth the house, while men contend with budget, work on the car, and do the house upkeep.
- Occupations- Many people in a society are thinking that nurse and teacher occupation are suitable for female, and men are perfect for engineer, doctor and pilot.
- Physical look- for example, women are predicted to be thin and graceful, whilst men are predicted to be tall and muscular. Men and girls are also predicted to get dressed and groom in ways that are stereotypical to their gender (guys carrying pants and short hairstyles, girls wearing dress and makeup.)

Gender stereotyping does not best negatively influence girls and women. Boys’ involvements of gender stereotypes can be harmful in some of approaches which include being taught to suppress emotions, pressure to appear manly and strong and to select topics and careers in keeping with stereotypes instead of their interests and skills. Those who discover as gender non-binary or transgender might also revel in extra layers of social pressure, discrimination and damage because of now not conforming to stereotypes related to gender. In brief, gender stereotyping negatively impacts all of us by way of proscribing expression, development and growth based totally on assumptions and inflexible social norms.

Gender Roles & Its Impact on Health

Gender stereotypes are culturally-ingrained ideas about appropriate behaviors for males and females. Rigid gender stereotyping promotes inequity between the sexes and can set young people up to expect and accept power imbalances within relationships later in life. Accepting gender stereotypes and roles can have longer-term negative influences on both male and female beliefs attitudes and future behavior. The main fact is the relationship between health and socio-economic status across ages by including gender roles for men and women. Although life expectancy of women is greater than men, women's average subjective health measure is worse and morbidity rates are higher. Gender roles in society would be one of the causes of this distinction.

Determinants of Health:

World Health Organization describes social determinants as ‘the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national, and local levels’.

Many factors combine to affect the health of individuals and communities. Whether people are healthy or not, is determined by their circumstances and environment.

The determinants of health include:

1. Physical environment: Examples of physical determinants includes natural environment, such as plants, weather, or climate change, transportation, housing etc.
2. Socioeconomic environment and networks: Examples of social environment and networks includes Socioeconomic conditions, such as concentrated poverty, quality, residential segregation, educational and job opportunity, social norms and attitudes etc.
3. Individual characteristics and behaviors: examples of individual behaviors such as diet, physical activity, alcohol, cigarette, and other drug use, hand washing etc.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Source: Dahlgren & Whitehead 2007

The context of people’s lives determines their health, and so blaming individuals for having poor health or crediting them for good health is inappropriate. Individuals are unlikely to be able to directly control many of the determinants of health. These determinants or things that make people healthy or not include the above factors, and many others:

- Income and social position - better income and social status are linked to better health. The greater the distance between the richest and poorest people, the more the variations in health.
- Education – low education ranges are related with bad health, extra pressure and lower self-self-assurance.
- Social assist networks – greater help from households, friends and groups are related to better health.
- Gender - Men and girls will be suffered from different kinds of diseases at a long time.
- Physical environment – secure water and clean air, healthy workplaces, safe homes, communities and roads all contribute to true health.
- Personal conduct and coping abilities – balanced eating, retaining active, smoking, drinking, and the way we address stresses and challenges all affect health.
- Health services - get right of entry to and use of services that prevent and deal with ailment affects health.
- Social assist networks – greater help from households, buddies and groups is related to better health.
- Culture - customs and traditions, and the ideals of the own family and network all influence health.

Gender Differences in Determinants and Consequences of Health

Gender differences inside the social, economic and biological determinants of health focusing on 3 non-communicable situations: nutrition, diabetes for social determinants; mental contamination, home violence for economic determinants; and longevity, occupational health for organic determinants.

- Gender Differences in Social consequences of Health: The gender differences in the social outcomes of health and contamination encompass how health affects males and females, which include health-searching for behavior, the availability of guide networks, and the stigma associated with contamination and sickness. Social factors, together with the degree to which women are excluded from schooling, or from participation in public lifestyles, influence their understanding about health problems and how to prevent and treat them. The example of nutrition will demonstrate how gender has an essential influence on the social determinants of food consumption. Some countries, especially in South Asia, men and boys often obtain greater quantities of better quality, nutritious food along with dairy products, because they'll grow to be the breadwinners.

Das Gupta argued that depriving female children of food was an explicit strategy used by parents to achieve a small family size and desired composition (Das Gupta, 1987). As an example, rural Mexico in which no nutritional differences between girls and boys in infancy or preschool, however school-going girls fed on less power than boys. This became explained that women are engaged in less physical activities because of culturally-prescribed gender roles instead of with the aid of sex bias in food allocation. Most developing countries, girls are selected for nutritional education due to the fact they are accountable for the education of food. However, they often lack access to nutritional food because men typically make decisions approximately its manufacturing and buy. Men may not offer nutritional food for their households because they have got now not acquired information approximately nutrition. The participation of each women and men is, therefore, essential to changing how choices about food are made and food-intake patterns and nutrition families (Salehi et al., 2004).

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