Women's Health Issues

Abstract

Issues related to women's physical health and health care reflect the broader concerns of women who must function within systems that have been constructed by and for men. The health care system in this country is still very much a male-dominated institution in which the demands on women to fit a male model are especially cogent (Lee, 1975). Because women traditionally have had primary responsibility for the care of children and for the ill and aging in their families, they typically assume greater responsibility in health matters than do men. Yet there is evidence that women as a group, and particularly women of limited educational, social, and economic resources, encounter significant obstacles to obtaining adequate diagnosis and treatment of medical disorders. From a prevention perspective also, less attention has been paid to the health risks of women than to those of men.