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Abstract
Open up any biomedical or public health journal prior to the 1970s, and one term will
be glaringly absent: gender. Open up any recent biomedical or public health journal,
and two terms will be used either: (1) interchangeably, or (2) as distinct constructs:
gender and sex. Why the change? Why the confusion?-and why does it matter? After briefly
reviewing conceptual debates leading to distinctions between 'sex' and 'gender' as
biological and social constructs, respectively, the paper draws on ecosocial theory
to present 12 case examples in which gender relations and sex-linked biology are singly,
neither, or both relevant as independent or synergistic determinants of the selected
outcomes. Spanning from birth defects to mortality, these outcomes include: chromosomal
disorders, infectious and non-infectious disease, occupational and environmental disease,
trauma, pregnancy, menopause, and access to health services. As these examples highlight,
not only can gender relations influence expression-and interpretation-of biological
traits, but also sex-linked biological characteristics can, in some cases, contribute
to or amplify gender differentials in health. Because our science will only be as
clear and error-free as our thinking, greater precision about whether and when gender
relations, sex-linked biology, both, or neither matter for health is warranted.
An increasing amount of research is beginning to offer a global overview of the extent of violence against women. In this paper we discuss the magnitude of some of the most common and most severe forms of violence against women: intimate partner violence; sexual abuse by non-intimate partners; trafficking, forced prostitution, exploitation of labour, and debt bondage of women and girls; physical and sexual violence against prostitutes; sex selective abortion, female infanticide, and the deliberate neglect of girls; and rape in war. There are many potential perpetrators, including spouses and partners, parents, other family members, neighbours, and men in positions of power or influence. Most forms of violence are not unique incidents but are ongoing, and can even continue for decades. Because of the sensitivity of the subject, violence is almost universally under-reported. Nevertheless, the prevalence of such violence suggests that globally, millions of women are experiencing violence or living with its consequences.
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