The Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology

104 Sara Arber and Hilary Thomas
4 Occupational and work-related factors. There are health hazards associated
with both paid work and unpaid domestic work. Working-class men have
traditionally been employed in more dangerous occupations with greater industrial
hazards (Hart 1988). Less attention has been paid to the repetitive nature
and lack of autonomy of much women's work, which may create greater stress
and repetitive strain injuries (Doyal 1995). Bartley et al. (1992) discuss the
health hazards of women's unpaid work in Britain, and in developingcountries
women are often involved in very hard physical work, such as carryingwater
longdistances and heavy agricultural production (Doyal 1995).
5 Social roles and relationships differ between women and men and may
impact on health (Fuhrer et al. 1999). Women in western countries often have
better social networks than men, and can more easily rely on contact with close
friends and relatives in times of crisis and stress. Marriage may provide a major
source of social support, but in a differential way for men and women and across
societies. In terms of social support, marriage may be good for men but less so
for women. Men tend to rely more on their wife for social support and a
confidingrelationship, with divorced and widowed men reportingparticularly
poor health.
6 Power and resources within the home. Patriarchical control within the
family and domestic settings may lead to exploitation of women and violence
against them. Women's lack of power and influence in the home, and lack of
access to valued resources (of food, opportunities for leisure, income), may have
adverse health consequences.
7 Social structural differences within society. Women in most societies are
more likely than men to be poor, have less education, and live in disadvantaged
material circumstances, all of which are likely to impact on gender differences in
health. Kawachi et al. (1999) report lower levels of women's mortality in states
with higher levels of women's economic autonomy, higher levels of labor market
participation, and higher political participation.
Gender inequality in the domestic settingmay vary with class and ethnicity
and may coexist with greater equality in the wider society (as in many western
societies today). Alternatively, inequality in the domestic sphere may be predicated
on and influenced by wider social, cultural, and economic inequalities at
the societal level, as in India and Bangladesh. Women's health and well-being is
jeopardized by women's unequal status both within the family and within
society.
Gender ender Differences ifferences in Morbidity orbidity
It has become accepted wisdom that ``women are sicker, but men die quicker''
(Lahelma et al. 1999). The higher morbidity rate but lower death rate of women
was characterized by Nathanson (1975) as a ``contradiction'' which required
explanation. Other US authors in the 1970s and 1980s repeatedly demonstrated
that ``females have higher rates of illness than males'' (Verbrugge 1979: 61),
and examined reasons for ``the discrepancy between the male excess of mortality
and the female excess for some morbidity measures'' (Waldron 1983: 1107). A