Gender Differences: The Disparity Between Health And Women's Health

There are many gender differences that exist within our country; differences in the workforce, in the home, and also within both gender’s health. It’s strange though, for one of the wealthiest countries in the world that spends the most on healthcare, the United States has a great disparity between health of the two sexes. Does gender really affect your health? Has the modernized world affected how long both genders live? These are questions you don’t typically think about living your day-to-day life, but maybe we should.

Life expectancy is defined as the average period that a person may expect to live. In pre-industrial societies, life expectancy for men and women were roughly the same until about 1850 when women started to outlive the men.

This creates an inverse relationship between mortality and morbidity. Females are reported to have more hypertension (high blood pressure), anemia, migraines, diabetes, arthritis, and some skin conditions. Males have more gout, emphysema (form of COPD), loss of limbs, and are more likely to die from cancer. This pattern supports the claim that women have a higher prevalence of chronic illness but they are not a leading cause of death. Men, however, are more likely to have a chronic condition that kills them. Women are also more likely to seek out medical help for their conditions than men because it is seen as a sign of weakness or a feminine act. While females are stronger at birth, typically face less dangerous situations, and are more in tune with their body, they are also more likely to feel ill which may lead to greater numbers in depression and anxiety. Also, if women are consistently living longer than men, they are also forced to deal with situations like remarriage or the loss of a spouse. However, as more women are obtaining a higher education and have a professional job, they typically rate their happiness higher than women who work from home and do not have a college education. Education, therefore, is also has an affect on how long you live, how happy you are, and how likely you are to seek out medical help. According to the text, between 1990-2008, researchers found

Depression and anxiety are more prevalent among women than men, but men are more likely to have a personality disorder, which also encompasses the greater substance abuse among men. Women tend to internalize their feelings, meaning they turn inward and cause their own mental turmoil within themselves. Men on the other hand, tend to externalize their feelings, meaning they act out their aggression or stress by drinking or engaging in risky behaviors. This is why accidents are more common among men, contributing to their higher mortality rate. According to the text, research has shown that employment outside the home has benefitted the psychological well being of women. It’s especially true if women have a certain amount of control over their job and what that job entails. Men typically are ranked higher on the totem pole in the workforce than women, and jobs that women perform are less complicated which contributes the possibility of depression due to lack of satisfaction and competence on the job. Women also experience some conflict with having to juggle being a wife, mother, and professional in the workforce. Married women are reported to have less control over their lives because of this. All of these factors contribute to the conflicts both sexes face with an increasingly modern society. Both sexes are away from the home more, but women are still expected to tend to the