Gender bias in nutrition and healthcare has gotten more pronounced in recent years. Although it has always been common, studies now demonstrate how detrimental it is to long-term health results. The most prevalent type of bias is toward women. According to United Nations research from 2020, about 90% of people worldwide exhibit gender bias against women.
Gender bias is “prejudice in action or treatment against a person on the basis of their sex.” When patients are evaluated, diagnosed, and treated less effectively than other patients with the same problems because of their gender, this is referred to as gender bias in healthcare. The idea that men and women are the same when there are variations between the sexes that need to be addressed is another way that gender bias in healthcare can appear. It can be challenging to prevent gender bias in healthcare, for both healthcare providers and patients who may be affected by it.
Gender Bias in Nutrition
Women and girls live under extremely damaging gender-based social conventions that frequently result in them “eating least, eating late, and eating inadequate nutritious meals.” In India, the bulk of the undernourished are women and children. Undernourished moms give birth to undernourished new-borns, creating intergenerational cycles of undernourishment.
Women’s ability to eat healthily depends on a number of variables, including domestic social norms, access to nutrient-dense food, their ability to buy it and their earning potential, as well as their agency. On all of these fronts, women and girls in India are still struggling.
A survey conducted in a factory in North India found that women missed breakfast frequently, which led to weariness and the development of a variety of illnesses, weaknesses, and health concerns in 90% of the women. They didn’t have breakfast because they had to take care of their family and do all the domestic tasks by themselves before leaving the house.
Access to food is governed by gendered norms on the ownership of assets, including land and resources. Most of the time, women are reliant on the dietary preferences of other family members, primarily their husbands and in-laws, and lack the agency and financial means to buy and eat nourishing food for themselves. Women and girls who are on their periods are still frequently prohibited from using the kitchen and from eating specific foods in many communities.
Anaemia, stunted growth, eye issues, diabetes, and heart disease are just a few of the serious health problems caused by systemic nutritional abuse that are instilled in society. These conditions are frequently passed from mothers to their daughters, who, if they grow up with the same societal expectations of gender-based discrimination and oppression in the food system, remain trapped in the cycle. Contrarily, food insecurity makes women and girls more susceptible to exploitation as they struggle to survive in a world of excruciating poverty and starvation.
Nutrition approaches and programmes for women and girls must move to an active lifespan approach. Entire families and communities must be encouraged, persevered in, and persuaded to unlearn detrimental gendered social conventions and recognise, uphold, and practise the necessity of nourishing meals for all humans, regardless of gender identification. As a root factor, the accessibility of nutritious food for women and girls must be remedied. Programs addressing gender norms in dietary access are vital, and they must be available in every sector – industries, households, community, and organizations – in order to reach every woman and kid.
Gender Bias in Healthcare
Gender bias in medical care poses risks. We should expect patient outcomes to deteriorate when both genders do not receive similar quality therapy and care for the same clinical complaints, or when distinct presentations of sickness are not understood based on sex. Gender bias exists across the health system, from patient-doctor interactions to medical research and legislation that control it. Some instances include:
- Gender stereotypes influence how doctors manage illnesses and interact with their patients. A 2018 study, for example, discovered that clinicians frequently regard males with chronic pain as “brave” or “stoic,” but women with severe pain as “emotional” or “hysterical.” The study also discovered that doctors were much more inclined to treat women’s discomfort as the result of a mental health problem instead of a physical problem.
- Gender bias also contributes to prejudice against health care employees. According to a 2020 research of older female doctors, age- and gender-based bullying, prejudice, and compensation disparities remained throughout their careers. While these issues subsided over time, the individuals’ degrees of rank and relevant expertise did not.
When addressing gender prejudice, a few areas for development emerge:
- The very first approach is to admit the existence of gender bias. Patients must also be aware of gender prejudice in health and ask the proper questions of their patients and caregivers.
- Making sure women are adequately represented in clinical research will assist to reduce gender bias.
- Outreach activities to assist healthcare institutions in addressing gender prejudice will help professionals become more conscious of discrimination and how it shows itself.
India is our home, and we must all work together to guarantee that every woman and girl experiences gender parity and has agency, access, and affordability to adequate nutritional meals on a daily basis for their well-being.
