Gender

Gender

Inequality Hapenning in UK

a. In Having Health service

Gender inequalities in health have been a major area of sociological research interest since the early 1970s. Rising to prominence on a wave of interest in the social relations of gender which challenged the empirical, theoretical and methodological core of sociology during the 1970s and early 1980s, the search for an explanation for differences in male and female morbidity and mortality, alongside interest in the relationship between variations in women’s social circumstances and their health, has been a vital part of feminists attempts to challenge the detrimental effects of patriarchy on women’s health.

By the late 1970s a research orthodoxy had emerged, under the twin influences of liberal feminism’s assimilationist agenda, which emphasized the health enhancing effects of access to social roles and statuses hitherto defined as male, and the radical feminist stress upon the primacy of gender over other statuses in the production of inequality (Annandale 1998a). This orthodoxy became a blueprint for research on gender differences in health which stressed entrenched inequalities in the experiences of women and men in the related spheres of paid and domestic work, and the consequences of these differences, for example for status and income. A distinction between sex (biology) and gender (the social) was essential to this tradition of research since it made clear that gender inequalities in health were in the most part socially produced, rather than biologically given.
Little research attention has been given to examining inequalities in the health of elderly women and men, in spite of their high use of health services and the importance of health to maintaining independence in later life. This paper uses data from the British General Household Survey to analysis the variation in health of elderly women and men by class and material circumstances. Two measures of health are used, self-assessed health and functional disability. Elderly women assess their own health less positively than men, and are seriously disadvantaged compared to men in terms of functional disability.
Health points about gender is a significant marker of social and economic vulnerability which is manifest in inequalities of access to health care and in women's and men's different positioning as users and producers of health care.
Two main approaches about gender issues in health care are distinguished a women's health approach, and a gender inequality approach.
The use of generic categories, such as 'the poor' or 'very poor' leads to insufficient disaggregation of the impact of changes in the terms on which health care is provided.
Class based on the individual's own previous main occupation is strongly associated with the two measures of health for elderly women and men at all ages. For elderly women, an individualistic approach, using the women's own last occupation, is compared with the conventional approach of measuring class, which for married women uses their husband's last occupation and for other women their own last occupation. Using the two approaches makes little difference to the strength of association between class and health.
Elderly women and men who live in advantaged material circumstances, in terms of income, car ownership and housing tenure, report significantly better health, after controlling for age and class. Level of functional disability is influenced by previous position in the labour market but not current material circumstances. Although elderly women suffer greater morbidity than elderly men, structural inequalities in health are equally pronounced for women and men in later life.
b. In Participating Sports

Sport is a social and cultural process in which social constructions of masculinity and femininity play a key role;

(1) Sport is traditionally associated with masculinity. In many societies, it is considered
(2) inappropriate for women to engage in sports, and women who do may be perceived as masculine.
(3) Conversely, men who do not engage in sports or who are not talented in sports may be labeled as unmanly.
(4) Yet, it is evident that there is no one masculinity or femininity, and sport could provide a space where masculinity and femininity are re-negotiated rather than re-affirmed in their dominant acception.
(5) The practice of sport is related to a number of assumptions about work and leisure, which are often lived differently by men and women.
(6) Caring for the sick and elderly, raising children, and other work in the home, reproductive activities still predominantly carried out by women and girls, are generally not socially and economically recognized as work.
(7) Productive activities exercised outside the home and recognized as work and in particular when they are performed by men, bring with them the right to have time off work for leisure.

Some societies value sport as productive

(1) Women and men tend to engage in different types of physical activity and their attitudes towards sport may be very different.
(2) The competitive dimensions of many sports may for some be at the heart of the game, while for other, sports may simply be an opportunity to get together.
(3) Being identified and identifying oneself as belonging to a particular culture, ethnic group, socio-economic class or caste also plays a role in how one engages in sports.
(4) Women, and eventually men too, may face a number of practical barriers to participation in sport:

Gender equality is a fundamental goal of development and belongs to the basic and
universally recognized civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. The aim of the
SDC Gender Equality Policy is to ensure that all SDC interventions increase women and
men’s opportunities to exercise their rights equally and gain equal access to and control
over the benefits of development. Worldwide, women are less frequently seen participating in sports activities than men. Sport can promote mental and physical wellbeing, and studies have shown that it reduces the risk of chronic diseases later in life. Thus sport for girls as well as for boys should be encouraged. Women are also under-represented in the decision-making bodies of sporting institutions. Increased participation by women would diversify the talent pool of administrators, coaches and officials. Sport-related development projects would become more effective in reaching all groups within target populations and communities.

a. In addition to a general lack of safe and appropriate sport facilities, lack of skills,
resources, and technical support, women may face additional physical constraints.
b. including lack of time, lack of childcare facilities.
c. Women may be particularly exposed to physical and/or verbal sexual harassment
as well as other dangers related to participation in sports programmes, because of
location and time of day, for instance.
d. There is a lack of female role models including women coaches or «leaders».
e. Women are under-represented in decisionmaking bodies of sporting institutions.

As well as working towards gender equality in terms of participation in sports activities
and institutions, there are also ways in which sport can help promote broader gender
equality objectives (e.g. rights and empowerment). Sport can give women and girls
access to public spaces where they can gather, develop new skills together, gain support
from others and enjoy freedom of expression and movement. It can promote education,
communication, negotiation skills and leadership, all of which are essential for women’s
empowerment.

The Important Sport;
Sport can develop girls’ and women’s sense of ownership over their bodies, increase their
self-esteem and better enable them to make choices about their lives, including their sexual activity. In situations of deprivation and inequality, such a sense of ownership over one’s own body is all the more important. Moreover, sport can provide a channel for
informing girls and women about reproductive health and other health issues, particularly
young unmarried women who may not receive such information.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VBF-466981X-12V&_user=10&_coverDate=01%2F31%2F1993&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1298345031&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=ad5da891f94cd3d663454e51bd8f5973
http://eqx-stage.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/chapters/0335203647.pdf
http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/12/1/1
http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/docs/sport_englisch.pdf