ABSTRACT
A nascent line of research has begun to look beyond interpersonal bias and mistreatment in order to document the relationship between various forms of structural discrimination and health. In this chapter, the author reviews the emerging literature on structural sexism—defined as systematic gender inequality in power and resources—and how it affects health across the life course. Next, the author provides a framework for considering how gender equity policy can improve population health and how all other types of public policies (i.e., those not explicitly gender-related) also can shape and be shaped by structural sexism in ways that influence health. Drawing on the life-course principles of life-long development, timing, cumulative (dis)advantage, and linked lives, the author closes by outlining the ways that life-course scholars can push this important line of research and policy analysis forward.
