ABSTRACT

Ethnicity becomes a mark of a collective social status, and its inescapability inevitably increases its health impact. Most of the processes of racism and stigmatization are likely to increase with increasing inequality. This chapter deals with the way inequality affects gender relations. It has long been recognized that health is better where the status of women is better. The most commonly used indicator of women's status in such studies (most of them in developing countries) was the difference between men's and women's educational standards. Socioeconomic inequalities often lead to differences in ethnicity, race, religion, or language, which might otherwise be easily accepted, becoming infected with social prejudice. However, where material inequalities are smaller, issues of social superiority and inferiority are less in the foreground of social relations and religious, ethnic, racial, and linguistic differences are less likely to cause friction. Income differences and skin color clearly interact in the social processes of stigmatization, prejudice, and discrimination.