Gender and health: relational, intersectional, and biosocial approaches

These approaches provide a new understanding of gender and new directions in the research and development of more equitable health policies.

“provide a new understanding of gender and new directions in the research and development of more equitable health policies (Springer et al., 2012).”

The intersectional approach explores the simultaneous intersections between aspects of social difference, identity, and forms of systemic oppression.

“The intersectional approach addresses precisely this omission, exploring the simultaneous intersections between aspects of social difference, identity, and forms of systemic oppression (Bowleg, 2008; Corus & Saatcioglu, 2015; Springer et al., 2012).”

Researchers who use relational approaches underline heterogeneity within the group rather than the differences between men and women.

“Researchers who use relational approaches consider gender as dynamic and situational, like an agency process by which meanings and expressions of gender are negotiated, shaped, and reproduced by the social structure (Butler, 2015), and they underline heterogeneity within the group rather than the differences between men and women (Sharman & Johnson, 2012; Springer et al., 20”

These approaches are insufficient for various reasons: they do not fully explain the variable gender, unintentionally reinforcing the inaccurate binary constructions of sex (man/woman) and gender (masculine/feminine), thereby presupposing that sex and gender are easily separable; and they often favor the search for differences over the exploration of similarities.

“However, these approaches are insufficient for various reasons: they do not fully explain the variable gender, unintentionally reinforcing the inaccurate binary constructions of sex (man/ woman) and gender (masculine/feminine), thereby presupposing that sex and gender are easily separable; and they often favor the search for differences over the exploration of similarities (Connell, 2012; Springer”

The biosocial perspective rejects the hypothesis that empirical differences between men and women in health outcomes are innate and inevitable, and instead attributes these differences to complex and dynamic interactions between biological and social processes.

“This biosocial perspective rejects the hypothesis that empirical differences between men and women in health outcomes are innate and inevitable, mainly rejecting the notion of physiological phenomena or biologically rooted behavioral preferences, and instead attributes these differences to complex and dynamic interactions between biological and social processes (Springer et al., 2012”

The results of research on health from the differences perspective have contributed to the differential consideration of the distribution of disease and mortality as a function of sex, and have given rise to substantial improvements in the distribution of resources, generating the corresponding differential investments in health research, policy, and programs for men and women.

“The results of research on health from this perspective have undoubtedly contributed to the differential consideration of the distribution of disease and mortality as a function of sex, and have given rise to substantial improvements in the distribution of resources, generating the corresponding differential investments in health research, policy, and programs for men and women (Springer,”

The intersectional approach is now recognized as an emerging approach that is the basis for developing valuable methods and tools to analyze differences.

“The term was conceptualized and coined initially outside the health field (Bilge, 2015; Collins, 1990; Crenshaw, 1989), and is now recognized as an emerging approach that is the basis for developing valuable methods and tools to analyze differences (Hankivsky, 2011; Springer et al., 2012).”