Women's Health West
Occupational differences have exposed women to less industrial injuries, although this is likely to change, as is risk of injury or death in war. Overall such injuries contributed to 3.5{06e5c851e71f046c386a74248b3a53282284dae0fc18af42c313779a50d46a39} of deaths in women compared to 6.2{06e5c851e71f046c386a74248b3a53282284dae0fc18af42c313779a50d46a39} in the United States in 2009. Even after succeeding in accessing health care, women have been discriminated against, a process that Iris Young has called “internal exclusion”, as opposed to “external exclusion”, the barriers to access.
This invisibility effectively masks the grievances of groups already disadvantaged by power inequity, further entrenching injustice. Women’s health is positioned within a wider body of knowledge cited by, amongst others, the World Health Organization, which places importance on gender as a social determinant of health. While women’s health is affected by their biology, it is also affected by their social conditions, such as poverty, employment, and family responsibilities, and these aspects should not be overshadowed. Women’s life expectancy is greater than that of men, and they have lower death rates throughout life, regardless of race and geographic region.
Behavioral differences also play a role, in which women display lower risk taking including consume less tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, reducing their risk of mortality from associated diseases, including …
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