ABSTRACT
In this paper, the ‘biophysical environment’ is understood as including both the natural and the constructed (or ‘built’) ‘life space’ within which women carry out their various gender-based involvements as domestic workers, producers and income-eamers. Understanding the environment for human health as a biophysical ‘life space’ allows us to avoid arbitrary distinctions between natural and built environments, rural and urban areas, and developing and developed countries as contexts for women’s environmental health concerns. Instead, the focus of policy attention is on the health implications of women’s (and men’s) direct and indirect interaction with the biophysical environment at the local level.
