Health Issues and Gender: Overview

The topic of health, even within the parameter “as it relates to gender,” has tremendous breadth. The sheer number of topics subsumed under the title “health” might well be infinite. Considering both health and gender from a historical perspective further complicates the issue, as the language of health and illness, understanding of the causes of illness and the responses to illness, has transformed over time. Thus, when thinking about health and gender, two ideas emerge:

• 1.
  The understanding of health and illness is dynamic and temporal.
• 2.
  The role of culture and the social environment is tightly intertwined with the conceptualization and understanding of health, well-being, and illness.

[Page 823]This entry explores the definitions of health and gender and considers the interplay of the social and historical contexts as related ...