Women are different from men.  Their social experience of that difference, expressed as ‘gender’, impacts on every area of their lives. 

  • Victorian women’s average weekly earnings are 20% lower than those of Victorian men
  • The average earnings of employed women are still substantially lower that those of men
  • 15% of families with children under 15 are one-parent families. Of these, 83% have a female head of family
  • Even when employed, women are still largely responsible for looking after their homes and families
  • 20% of Victorian women speak a language other than English and close to one in five women living in Victoria is an immigrant.
  • The number of Victorian women who identified as Indigenous in the 2001 census was 14,047
  • Women constitute a particularly large segment of the older/senior population

There is growing evidence of the relationship between gender and health and understanding of gender as an important determinant of health and wellbeing. Although the difference is not news to most of us, it is still being discovered in many areas of health. Often, health has been dispensed as a ‘one size fits all’ model.  However women need healthcare tailored to women’s bodies and mindful of women’s social roles.

There are some conditions that affect more women than men, such as arthritis, osteoporosis and eating disorders. There are some conditions that affect women differently than they affect men. Heart attacks and HIV/AIDS are two of the more serious conditions that doctors sometimes overlook in women, because the signs and symptoms look different than they do in men. And there are some conditions that only affect women, such as pregnancy, childbirth and menopause. Too often, reproductive health is what ‘women’s health’ is seen to be. But women’s health is much more than this.

Despite the growing international recognition of gender as a determinant of health, this awareness has yet to be incorporated into mainstream health policy and the design and delivery of programs and services.

An investment in women’s health is an investment in the health of all the community.

 

Click below links to download pdfs.

 

Reference

Office for Women’s Policy (2005). Facts and Figures about Victorian Women

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2004) Household and Family Projections, Australia, 2001 to 2026.  Cat. No. 3236.0

Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Council of Australia (2001). Age-Gender Profiles for Selected Birthplace Groups Victoria- 2001 Census

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2001) Population Characteristics Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, Victoria.  Cat. No. 4713.2.55.001

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2004) Population by Age and Sex, Australian States and Territories.  Cat. No. 3201.0

With acknowledgements to the Canadian Women’s Health Network