Health and Gender
Prompt: Do gender stereotypes affect how health conditions are described? Explore how certain conditions (e.g., heart disease, anxiety, chronic pain) are framed differently for different genders.
Task Overview
This task explores how medical systems, news stories, and expert commentary describe men’s and women’s symptoms differently. You will analyse whether certain conditions are framed as “normal for one gender" and how this framing can impact treatment, diagnosis, and stigma.
You’ll gather examples from real news stories and see how gender stereotypes affect healthcare.
To get you started
1. Read a few articles
Some links:
- Harvard Gazette – Sexism in Medicine Continues to Endanger Women’s Health
- ABC News Australia – Women Share Experiences with Medical Misogyny
- American Heart Association Newsroom – Gender Gaps in Cardiovascular Disease Diagnosis Persist
- Moneycontrol – How Gender Bias Delays Diagnosis of Heart Disease and Chronic Illness Details how women’s symptoms (fatigue, nausea, jaw pain) are dismissed as emotional or hormonal, delaying diagnosis of serious diseases.
- Journal of Pain – Gendered Worlds of Pain: Women, Marginalization, and Chronic Pain
As you go, focus on how different genders’ symptoms are described.
Highlight:
- Words used for women’s symptoms
- Words used for men’s symptoms
- Cases of misdiagnosis or dismissal
- Explanations linking symptoms to stereotypes (“stress,” “emotions,” “hormones”)
2. Compare tone and blame
Ask:
- Are stereotypes blamed on individual doctors, the healthcare system, research bias, or society?
- Which source presents the strongest critique of systemic bias?
3. Write your conclusion
Summarise:
- How gender stereotypes shape descriptions of heart disease, anxiety, and chronic pain
- Consequences for diagnosis & treatment
- Which stereotypes appeared most often
- Any differences in tone across the articles