Abstract
The addition of social indicators and quality of life measures to the raft of traditional health indicators used to assess health and well-being has certainly provided a much-needed contextual understanding of health outcomes. However, most quality of life measures remain undifferentiated by gender. Outcomes can be disaggregated along age, class, ethnic, racial and gender dimensions but few quality of life measures (or social indicators for that matter) are sensitive to the subtle effects of gender socialization on health and well-being. Both social epidemiology and quality of life measures need to be gendered and differentiated to fully capture the diversity of women’s and men’s health experiences.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aas, B.: 1998, ‘The deteriorating effects of globalization on women’s lives: Adjustment or resistance, A Nordic perspective’, Jornstadveien 30, N–1360 (Nesbru, Norway).
Albrecht, G. L. and Fitzpatrick, R.: 1994, ‘A sociologiocal perspective on healthrelated quality of life research’, Advances in Medical Sociology 5, pp. 1–21.
Ashton, J. and Seymour, H.: 1988, The New Public Health (Open University Press, Liverpool).
Asian Development Bank: 1993, Gender Indicators of Developing Asian and Pacific Countries (ADB, Manila).
Australian Institute of Health: 1990, Australia’s Health 1990 (AGPS, Canberra).
Australian Institute of Health andWelfare: 1992, Australia’s Health 1992 (AGPS, Canberra).
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: 1994a, Australia’s Health 1994 (AGPS, Canberra).
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: 1994b, Health Outcomes Bulletin 1, February (AIHW, Canberra).
Baum, F.: 1990, ‘The New Public Health: force for change or reaction’, Health Promotion International 5(2), pp. 145–150.
Baum, F. and Cooke, R.: 1992, ‘Healthy Cities Australia: the evaluation of the pilot project in Noarlunga, Australia’, Health Promotion International 7(3), pp. 181–193.
Baum, F.: 1995, ‘Community Health Research’, in Baum, F. (ed.) Health for All: the South Australian Experience, Kent Town, South Australia, Wakefield Press.
Baum, F.: 1994, Conversation at WHO headquarters, Geneva, July 5–15.
Ben-Tovim, D. and Morton, J.: 1989, The Anorexia Nervosa Bulimia Study Programme (South Australian Health Commission, Adelaide).
Bhatia, S.: 1983, ‘Traditional practices affecting female health and survival evidence from countries of South Asia’, in A. Lopez and L. Ruzicka (eds.) Sex Differentials in Mortality: Trends, Determinants and Consequences, Miscellaneous Series No. 4 (Department of Demography, Australian National University, Canberra).
Bishop, B., Pellegrini, S. et al.: 1993, ‘Rural women’s health networks’, Research Advisory Committee Monograph Series No. 2 (Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra).
Bond, M. A.: 1977, ‘The multitextured lives of women of color’, American Journal of Community Psychology 25(5), October, pp. 733–743.
Bowling, A.: 1991, Measuring Health: A Review of Quality of Life Measurement Scales (Open University Press).
Bowling, A.: 1995, ‘What things are important in people’s lives? A survey of the public’s judgements to inform scales of health related quality of life’, Social Science and Medicine 41(10), pp. 1447–1462.
Broom, D.: 1991, Damned If We Do: Contradictions in Women’s Health Care (Allen & Unwin, Sydney).
Broom, D.: 1994, ‘Taken down and used against us: Women’s health centres’, in C. Waddell and A. Petersen (eds.) Just Health (Churchill Livingstone, Melbourne).
Broom, D.: 1998, ‘Gender and Health’, in J. Germov (ed.) Second Opinion (Oxford University Press, Melbourne).
Cargan, L.: 1983, ‘Health: a cross-cultural examination of gender and marital status’, Alternative Lifestyles 6(2), pp. 103–114.
Celermajer, D.: 1987, ‘Submission and Rebellion: Anorexia and a Feminism of the Body’, Australian Feminist Studies 5, Summer.
Chin, M. H. and Goldman, L.: 1998, ‘Gender differences in 1 year survival and quality of life among patients admitted with congestive heart failure’, Medical Care 36(7), pp. 1033–1046.
Connell, R. W.: 1992, ‘A very straight gay: Masculinity, homosexual experience and the dynamics of gender’, American Sociological Review 57, pp. 735–751.
Cook, R. J.: 1993, Human Rights in Relation to Women’s Health: The Promotion and Protection of Women’s Health through International human Rights Law (WHO, Geneva).
Cummins, R. A.: 1993, Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale for Adults, Manual: Fourth Edition (Deakin University, Melbourne).
Danguilan, M.: 1994, A Reproductive Health Profile of the Western Pacific Region WHO Consultancy Report (Division of Maternal and Child Health, WHO).
Davis, E. E. and Fine-Davis, M.: 1991, ‘Social indicators of living conditions in Ireland with European comparisons’, Social Indicators Research 25(2–4), September, pp. 103–365.
Doyal, L.: 1995, What MakesWomen Sick: Gender and the Political Economy of Health (Macmillan, London).
Eckermann, E.: 1994, ‘Self-Starvation and Binge-Purging: Embodied Selfhood/ Sainthood’, Australian Cultural History Bodies 13, pp. 82–99.
Figlio, K.: 1978, ‘Chlorosis and chronic disease in 19th century Britain: The social constitution of somatic illness in a capitalist society’, International Journal of Health Services 18(4).
Foucault, M.: 1980, The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, Introduction (Vintage, New York).
Gleick, J.: 1987, Chaos: Making a New Science (Penguin, Harmondsworth).
Glenn, N. D.: 1975, ‘The contribution of marriage to the psychological well-being of males and females’, Journal of Marriage and the Family 37, pp. 594–601.
Glenn, N. D. and Weaver, C. N.: 1988, ‘The changing relationship ofmarital status to reported happiness’, Journal of Marriage and the Family 50, pp. 317–324.
Gove, W. R. and Tudor, J. F.: 1973, ‘Adult sex roles and mental illness’, American Journal of Sociology 78, pp. 812–835.
Hughes, M.: 1994, ‘The risks of lifestyle and the diseases of civilisation’, Annual Review of Health Social Sciences 4, pp. 57–78.
Hunt, S., McKenna, S. McEwen, J. Williams, J. and Papp, E.: 1981, ‘The Nottingham Health profile: Subjective health status and medical consultations’, Social Science and Medicine 15A, pp. 221–229.
Johnson, L.: 1983, ‘Classifying/class defying women in contemporary Australia’, in A. Johnston et al. (eds) Exploring the Place and Women in Contemporary Australia (Deakin Univ. Press, Geelang, Voc.).
Kickbusch, I.: 1986, ‘Health Promotion: A Global Perspective’, Canadian Journal of Public Health 77, September/October.
Kickbusch, I.: 1994, Vienna Statement on Investing in Women’s Health in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Lifestyles and Health Department, WHO, Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen).
Kuz, T. J.: 1978, ‘Quality of life: An objective and subjective variable analysis’, Regional Studies 12, pp. 409–417.
Lopez, A.: 1983, ‘The Sex Mortality Differential in Developed Countries’, in A. Lopez and L. Ruzicka (eds) Sex Differentials in Mortality: Trends, Determinants and Consequences, Miscellaneous Series No. 4 (Department of Demography, Australian National University, Canberra).
Lopez, A.: 1994, Conversation at WHO headquarters (Geneva, June 13).
Lupton, D.: 1993, ‘Risk as moral danger: the social and political functions of risk discourse in public health’, International Journal of Health Services 23(3), pp. 425–435.
McBride, A. B. and McBride, W. L.: 1981, ‘Theoretical underpinnings for women’s health’,Women and Health 6(1/2), Spring/Summer.
McCallum, J.: 1993, ‘The New “SF–36” Health Measure Australian Psychometric and Validity Tests’, Paper for NCEPH (Australian National University, Canberra).
McTurk, L.: 1994, ‘Using QALYs to allocate resources: A critique of some objections’, Monash Bioethics Review 13(1), January.
Mathers, C.: 1995, ‘Health differentials between Australian males and females: A Statistical profile’, Paper for the 1st National Men’s Health Conference (Melbourne, 10–11 August).
Maynard, A.: 1991, ‘The relevance of health economics to health promotion’, in B. Badura and I. Kickbusch (eds) Health Promotion Research: Towards a New Social Epidemiology (WHO Regional Pubs. European Series No. 37) pp. 29–5.
Mechanic, D.: 1978, ‘Sex, illness, illness behaviour and the use of health services’, Social Science and Medicine 12B, pp. 207.
Nathason, C.: 1977, ‘Sex, illness and medical care: a review of data, theory and method’, Social Science and Medicine 11, pp. 13.
Noack, H.: 1988, ‘Measuring health behaviour and health: towards new health promotion indicators’, Health Promotion 3(1) pp. 5–11.
Oakley, A.: 1983, ‘Adam and Eve in the Garden of Health Research: Social Policy and Health Research’, European Monographs in Health Education Research No. 5 (ed. L. Baric) (Scottish Health Education Group).
Ohadike, P.: 1983, ‘Evolving indications of mortality differentials by sex in Africa’, in A. Lopez and L. Ruzicka (eds) Sex differentials in Mortality: Trends, Determinants and Consequences. Miscellaneous Series No. 4 (Department of Demography, Australian National University, Canberra).
Petersen, A. and Lupton, D.: 1996, New Public Health: Health and Self in the Age of Risk (Allen & Unwin, Melbourne).
Pool, I.: 1983, ‘Changing patterns of sex differentials in survival: An examination of data for Maoris and Non-Maoris in New Zealand’, in A. Lopez and L. Ruzicka (eds) Sex Differentials in Mortality: Trends, Determinants and Consequences, Miscellaneous Series No. 4 (Department of Demography, Australian National University, Canberra).
Rahkonen, O., Arber, S. and Lahelma, E.: 1995, ‘Health inequalities in early adulthood: a comparison of young men and women in Britain and Finland’, Social Science and Medicine 41(2), pp. 63–71.
Robertson, M.: 1993, Starving in the Silences (Allen & Unwin, Sydney).
Sabo, D. and Gordon, D. F. (eds): 1995, Men’s Health and Illness: Gender, Power and the Body (Sage, Thousand Oaks, California).
Saltman, D.: 1991, Women and Health: An Introduction to Issues (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Sydney).
Sandelowski, M.: 1981, Women, Health and Choice (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs).
Schneider, M.: 1976, ‘The quality of life and social indicators research’, Public Administration Review 36, pp. 297–305.
South Australian Health Commission: 1992, Social Health Atlas of Australia (South Australian Health Commission, Adelaide).
Subcommittee on Women and Health: 1993, Health Goals and Targets for Australian Women (Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service).
UNDP: 1995, The Human Development Report 1995 (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
UNDP: 1996, The Human Development Report 1996 (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
UNDP: 1997, The Human Development Report 1997 (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
UNDP: 1998, The Human Development Report 1998 (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
UNDP: 1999, The Human Development Report 1999 (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
Veenhoven, R.: 1996, ‘Livability of Nations’, paper to World Conference on Quality of Life (University of Northern British Columbia, Canada, August 1996).
Verbrugge, L.: 1983, ‘The Social Roles of the Sexes and their relative health and mortality’, in A. Lopez and L. Ruzicka (eds) Sex Differentials in Mortality: Trends, Determinants and Consequences, Miscellaneous Series No. 4, Department of Demography (Australian National University, Canberra).
Vlassoff, C. and Bonilla, E.: 1994, ‘Gender-related differences in the impact of tropical diseases on women: what do we know?’, Journal of Biosocial Science, 26(1), January, pp. 37–53.
Wasserman, I. M. and Chua, L. A.: 1980, ‘Objective and subjective social indicators of the quality of life in American SMSA’s: A reanalysis’, Social Indicators Research 8, pp. 365–381.
Willis, E.: 1986, ‘RSI as a Social Process’, Community Health Studies 10(2), pp. 210–219.
WHO/UNICEF: 1978, Alma Ata 1978: Primary Health Care (WHO, Geneva).
World Ban: 1993, ‘World development report: Investing in health’, World Development Indicators (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
WHO: 1994, Progress towards health for all: statistics of member states (WHO, Geneva).
WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific: 1982, Regional Strategy for Health for All (WHO, Manila).
Yu, M. Y. and Sarri, R.: 1997, ‘Women’s health status and gender inequality in China’, Social-Science-and-Medicine (SOC-SCI-MED) Dec; 45(12), pp. 1885–1898 (71 ref).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Eckermann, L. Gendering Indicators of Health and Well-being: Is Quality of Life Gender Neutral?. Social Indicators Research 52, 29–54 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007075705683
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007075705683