What Makes Women Sick: Gender and the Political Economy of Health

by Lesley Doyal

What makes women sick? To an Ecuadorean woman, it’s nervios from constant worry about her children’s illnesses. To a woman working in a New Mexico electronics factory, it’s the solvents that leave her with a form of dementia. To a Ugandan woman, it’s HIV from her husband's sleeping with the widow of an AIDS patient. To a Bangladeshi woman, it’s a fatal infection following an IUD insertion. What they all share is a recognition that their sickness is somehow caused by  situations they face every day at home and at work.
In this clearly written and compelling book, Lesley Doyal investigates the effects of social, economic, and cultural conditions on women’s health. The “fault line” of gender that continues to divide all societies has, Doyal demonstrates, profound and pervasive consequences for the health of women throughout the world. Her broad synthesis highlights variations between men and women in patterns of health and illness, and it identifies inequalities in medical care that separate groups of women from each other. Doyal’s wide-ranging arguments, her wealth of data, her use of women’s voices from many cultures—and her examples of women mobilizing to find their own solutions—make this book required reading for everyone concerned with women’s health.

Genres: Medicine, Nonfiction

296 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1995

Reviews

[Nathan Douthit · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would not have picked up this book on my own, but glad i did. There are some differences in our worldview and therefore our conclusions, but I found the content very interesting and thought provoking.

[Kate]

Really enjoyed this book. Obviously some of the statistics are out of date, but I think the pressures pushing against Women's health are still true today, and therefore are valuable to investigate.

[Allison Tyson]

This is very well researched and readable book, despite being an academic text. However, I have decided not to finish it immediately as it is the sort of writing that provokes further research by the reader. I would recommend this book but I found it's material challenging, especially the chapters entitled Safe Sex and Hazards of Hearth and Home.