ABSTRACT

The Black Report on Inequalities in Health (DHSS, 1980) is ten years old, but inequalities in women’s health remains largely uncharted territory. This chapter argues, first, that existing work has been constrained by the mould of maledominated class analyses. Inequalities in women’s health may be better understood outside the strait-jacket of class by using indicators which more sensitively measure women’s structural position. Second, the dominance of structural/materialist explanations of inequalities in women’s health has blinded researchers to the ways in which women’s roles intersect and amplify structural inequalities. A fuller understanding of women’s health requires analysis of women’s marital, parental and employment roles within a structural context. Third, there has been a failure to distinguish inequalities in health status (longterm health or chronic illness) from inequalities in health state (short-term or acute illness).