Gender Differences and Inequalities in Social and Health Sciences Research

Dear Colleagues,

Biological differences were for long time the leitmotiv to ground inequalities between women and men. Women and gender studies and feminist scholarship, a very rich lively and innovative field of studies, have been building, over the last decades, a strong scientific framework providing research findings that show how culture shapes behavior and how inequalities have much more to do with the distribution of power and resources than with biology.

Yet, this is not to assert that there are no biological differences between men and women or that they do not play a role in human life. Bodies matter; material and cultural dimensions interact and shape personal life, social relations, and societies. In addition to the social sciences and humanities, gender lens has gained ground in the health sciences, medicine, and medical research, opening new research strands and stimulating an ever-growing literature.

This special issue of Social Science is dedicated to exploring the relations between gender and health, addressed through a diversity of disciplinary and methodological perspectives. Topics may include gendered health behaviors, gender bias among health professionals, gender norms and health, gender differences and inequalities in health, and gender and medical research among others.  

Prof. Dr. Anália Maria Cardoso Torres
Prof. Dr. Paula Campos Pinto
Dr. Diana Maciel
Guest Editors

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• gender
• gender bias
• health sciences
• medical research
• gender
• health and migration
• health inequalities
• gender and social inequalities
• gender differences
• health inequities
• health and intersectionality

Title: On the importance of recognizing and overcoming gender bias in medicine
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Title: Gender, migration, and health: the need for gender-based transformative and intersectional research? (Commentary)
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Title: Gender Inequalities in Health. Portugal in the European Context
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Title: The Gendered Brain: Do you have a Female or a Male Brain? Or are we asking the wrong question?
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Abstract: The role of sex as a biological variable (SABV) has, justifiably, attracted increasing attention in the field of mainstream medicine and medical research. This is particularly relevant in areas where there is strong epidemiological evidence of sex differences in brain-based conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and also in mental health problems such as depression or substance abuse. An underlying assumption is that such differences arise from predetermined biological differences between female and male brains. However, recent evidence has challenged this assumption, and urged additional attention to the role of gender, not only as a social and cultural variable, but also as a biological variable, in determining differences in brain development and brain function. This paper will review this debate and note that failure to account for the entangled nature of sex and gender in mainstream medicine and medical research will limit progress and constrain potential interventions.

Title: Health from a gender perspective: an analysis from the portuguese national health survey
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Title: Health and medicine... and what about gender?
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