IV ISA Forum of Sociology (February 23-28, 2021)

416

Social Determinants, Gendered-Health Inequities, and Intersectionality

Abstract Submissions Closed

RC32 Women, Gender and Society (host committee)

Language: English

Session Type: Oral

It is not an exaggeration to say that global health has been on a roller coaster. Periods of optimism have been followed by sharp downswings and backlashes belying the delicate consensus about ‘health for all’, only to be followed by new panaceas. The application of intersectionality attempts to tease out how intersections of the social determinants of health, those of identity categories (the ‘isms’ as they are called) and those of geographies, create particular configurations of oppression in their intersections, impacting on health and producing health inequalities. The session will focus on how the poor health of women living in poverty, the social gradient in health within countries, and the marked health inequi­ties between countries are caused by the unequal distribution of power, income, goods, and services, globally and nationally, the consequent unfairness in the immediate, visible circumstances of women’s lives—their access to health care, schools, and education, their conditions of work and leisure, their homes, com­munities, towns, or cities—and their chances of leading a flourishing life. Papers may address unequal distribution of health-damaging experiences which are not in any sense a “‘natural’” phenomenon but the result of a toxic combination of poor social policies and programmes, unfair economic arrangements, appalling political circumstances by drawing attention to interactive intersectionality along with struc­tural determinants and conditions of daily life constituting the social determinants of health. Papers may also highlight how these are respon­sible for a major part of gendered-health inequities between and within countries making marginalized women further marginalized.