Being Born a Woman: A Dangerous Prospect for your Health

"Poor health shreds communities, undermines economic opportunity, and holds back progress."

                                                         -Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of  State

To be born a woman can be a serious hazard for your health. Depending on her place of birth a woman will likely face adverse health effects in numbers far higher than her male counterparts. In many nations women face a myriad of barriers to health including poverty, lack of autonomy, violence, lack of access to healthcare, work hazards, harmful traditional practices, lower legal status, lack of proper maternal care and lack of access to education to name a few. 

Poverty has well documented effects on health outcomes and over 70 percent of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty are women ( Craft, British Medical Journal). When women are malnourished it create a vicious cycle since the maternal health of the mother is effected and often the child she bears will have lifelong negative health outcomes from the mother’s lack of nutrition. If a woman lives in a low income country that has an undeveloped health care system she may lack the access she needs to proper care as well. In some countries with failing health care systems, women can even fall prey to practices like the women targeted for unnecessary hysterectomies performed in poorer rural parts of India by unscrupulous health clinics.

Women also often suffer a lack of autonomy that keeps them from being able to make their own health decisions even if they understand what needs to be done for their health. They often lack the control to make decisions when it comes to their sexual life.  Often a woman’s legal status leaves her unable to take ownership of land or to divorce an abusive husband or to have control over who she marries. This lack of status contributes to the high poverty rates faced by women. 

Women face harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation that leads to serious negative health effects. Also traditions such as marrying young and having children at a young age before the body is ready to produce children leads to serious adverse health effects for women as well. 

Violence against women is a major cause of long term physical, mental and sexual health problems for women. There is an especially high risk in the refugee population which has grown higher over the years as unrest increases around the world. Violence however is not just a problem in low income or war torn countries, but is seen across all nations and populations. 

To be born a woman, especially in a developing nation,  increases the risk of a less healthy life. Women on average live longer lives than men, but  across the board are living less healthy lives than men. A summary on Women and Health by the World Health Organization explaining why sexism kills can be read here and gives an overview of some other unique challenges facing women. 

It could be argued that a woman’s health outcome may be improved if she immigrates to a country where proper health care is more available to her. But even if she manages to immigrate, she faces barriers to her health such as the inability to communicate, possible legal issues with citizenship and depression from being removed from her culture. 

The World Health Organization has made progress towards achieving the millennium goal of gender equality and empowerment for women. One major component of this process is to ensure that females are able to receive primary school education. Education is a major key in a girl's improved health, her social and economic status, and her sense of self worth. Educated women start a cycle that can be passed down from mother to child. Along with the World Health Organization, there have also been many innovative non profits that have found creative solutions to problems facing women's health. One excellent example is the Helen Keller International Homestead Food Production Program that aims to improve women's and children's nutrition outcomes globally.

Women make up the majority of the population on earth. Women raise the children and support the family. Without improving the lives and health of women globally, these dangerous health outcomes are fatal not just to women, but to our world. Poor health impedes progress and limits economic growth. Continuing to work towards empowering women and investing in their success and education is imperative in order to improve global health.


Post by Group 7-IsRaya, Tiffany, Cheryl, Rameez, Sarah and Abigail