Customer Reviews

Gender and Health: The Effects of Constrained Choices and Social Policies

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"Gender and Health" is both a vital reference and a good read. The book is well-written, understandable for the lay person and expert alike, and indispensable to any health policy discussion, The authors argue persuasively that gender differences in health can only be explained through an interdisciplinary study of both social and biological factors. They focus on gender-specific social constraints which affect life choices which contribute to differences in disease processes in men and women. The book's explanations and arguments are well-organized and clearly presented. Well-crafted tables and figures add vital information to the narrative.

This book will soon become required reading for researchers, policymakers, and others interested in understanding men's and women's health.

It's well written and easy to read.

It spells out that the wrong questions are being asked in this area - or maybe not the wrong questions, but additional questions need to be asked. What answers you get and therefore what models you develop about the world are clearly related to what questions you think to ask.

It's well referenced - something I always appreciate!

It moved me along a little bit in my personal point of view: As I prioritize health very highly and am quite privileged in terms of education, where/how I get to even choose to live, etc., I tend to lean towards thinking in terms of emphasizing individual choices and responsibility more so than national, community, etc. policy (though I'm certainly a proponent of governmental nudges in the right direction - seatbelts, no-smoking areas, etc.). This reminds me of how many constraints there really are, particularly in those areas where people just don't have as many options.

I really like the directions of research that the authors suggest - and that they call a spade a spade: for example, in terms of calling out the fact that, even as they vocally support interdisciplinary research, most academic institutions don't yet have true, systemic support for interdisciplinary research.

Not knowing as much about sociology research, it was very instructive for me to learn about how questions are formulated from that perspective.

For years I have searched for an excellent book on Gender & Health. Bird & Rieker do an amazing job of analyzing the current literature & setting a framework for future studies. The book is well-written and innovative, a must-read for researchers and students interested in this topic. Professionals from multiple disciplines (demography, sociology, gerontology, health policy, public health, psychology) would benefit greatly from reading this book.

I thought this was an excellent, clearly-written book that provided an interesting discussion on health disparities by gender in a social, cultural, and biological context. It's a great primer for understanding how social policies filter down to individual-level health and behavior. It's often difficult to convey complex topics in a simple and clear manner, but the authors do so effortlessly by providing examples of real-life situations that everyone can easily relate to, making it highly accessible to the general public, as well as health researchers. This is the book to buy if you're interested in gender and health!

This is a wonderful book! The authors have done a tremendous service by pulling together insights and evidence from a remarkably diverse range of literature and science. The result is a clear and straightforward overview and discussion of the complex interplay between forces routinely affecting individuals' and groups' well-being and health. Rather than a laundry list, the authors' review and discussion provides a plausible and easy to understand framework that will help inform choices we all make. Though the book includes discussion of some cutting edge science and policy issues and will be of benefit to scholars and policy makers, it will also be of interest to and enjoyable by readers without any special training or knowledge.

Gender and Health is especially relevant now with the discussions of how to revise our health care system. The book emphasizes the constraints in the organization of such care compared with other industrialized societies to learn why, since we spend more on healthcare than do those societies, our results are worse. Such policies have been called "socialism" by some U.S. politicians. Maternal and child health policy differences are presented in seven clearly written chapters, ideal for students, healthworkers and interested lay people.