Gender stereotypes affect healthcare: Johnson

[Butterfly]

Gender stereotypes affect healthcare: Johnson
The Brunswickan
By Cat Wilson
30 Sep 2009


http://www.thebruns.ca/content/2009-09/gender-stereotypes-affect-healthcare-johnson


A recent talk at UNB on the topic of sex and gender revealed that both men and women are stereotyped when it comes to health care, sometimes preventing them from receiving the care they need.

Dr. Joy Johnson's public discussion at Maclaggan Hall last Thursday evening addressed concerns involving the implications related to sex and gender in medical treatment. She also discussed the ramifications of certain procedures and the need for further research.

"There are assumptions we as the public take for granted; for instance [that] everyone in Canada has equal access to health care," Johnson, the scientific director of the Institute of Gender and Health in Vancouver remarked. 

Johnson explained that gender is considered a social construct which defines a person's characteristics based on stereotypes of masculinity or femininity.  Hence, brawny, muscular individuals are considered 'manly' while long-haired, well groomed, large-breasted individuals are 'feminine'.  Rather than strictly classifying people as either male or female, gender ranges on a continuum from extreme masculinity to extreme femininity according to the Bem Sex Role Inventory, a measurement tool mentioned during the lecture.