Women suffer more health-related misery than men

Source: TOI

What is the news?

Recent findings of World Health Statistics report of 2021, indicating gender inequality in terms of quality of life of women as compared to men.

Key findings

Gender inequality mars the quality of life as women age, in much of the world. Hostile social norms undo women’s bodily advantage – in gender-unequal countries, men’s healthy life expectancy is ahead of women’s.

• While women tend to live longer than men, they suffer more health-related misery than men.
• Apart from nutritional deficits and time poverty, women have less access to healthcare, with barriers of resources and mobility. They also face social trivializing and misdiagnosing of their conditions. Often their reproductive illnesses or cardiovascular problems are not attended to in full
• Their health problems are often dismissed as ‘irrational’ feminine panic.
• Medical injustice ranges from clinical trial skews to disparities in treatment. Chronic pain conditions that affect us, from fibromyalgia to osteoporosis are still under-diagnosed around the world.
• Studies show that women wait longer in emergency rooms and are less likely to be given painkillers. Families, institutions, women themselves are trained to ignore their distress. This is worsened by factors like poverty and location.

Conclusion
This gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy is troubling, especially in countries like ours with minimal social security. For all too many women, longevity is clearly not a blessing.