The science of difference: The invisibility of women in health sciences

Authors

  • Carme Valls-Llobet Centre for Health Care Analysis and Programmes (Centro de Análisis y Programas Sanitarios, CAPS) in Barcelona (Spain).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.7.8155

Keywords:

gender and health, differential morbidity, gender perspective, equality, differences

Abstract

Women remained invisible in health sciences until the late twentieth century because they were not included in the cohorts used in researched studies. Thanks to the work done by different groups of feminist researchers, we were able to visualise the need to change those paradigms. But while gender perspectives have allowed us to research new aspects of science, gender has sometimes contributed to rendering female-specific health issues as invisible. For women to be treated equally, their differences have to be recognised, precisely so that the equal right of both sexes to quality of life can be defended. Therefore, the science of difference should be included in research and taught in all health science specialisations.

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Author Biography

Carme Valls-Llobet, Centre for Health Care Analysis and Programmes (Centro de Análisis y Programas Sanitarios, CAPS) in Barcelona (Spain).

Graduate in Medicine and Surgery in 1968. She is an internal medicine and endocrinology assistant, and the director of the Woman, Health, and Quality of Life Programme at the Centre for Health Care Analysis and Programmes (Centro de Análisis y Programas Sanitarios, CAPS) in Barcelona (Spain), where she focuses on research and education about health, women, and gender issues. She has promoted a network of female health professionals in Spain, the Red-Caps, and is the author of several papers and the books Mujeres y hombres: Salud y diferencias (Folio, 1994), Mujeres invisibles (Debolsillo 2006), and Mujeres, salud y poder (Cátedra, 2009).

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Valls-Llobet, C. (2009). Mujeres, salud y poder. Madrid: Editorial Cátedra.

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Published

2017-06-20

How to Cite

Valls-Llobet, C. (2017). The science of difference: The invisibility of women in health sciences. Metode Science Studies Journal, (7), 121–125. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.7.8155
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Issue

Unravelling science: Pulling the thread of knowledge (2017)

Section

SheScience. Science from a gender perspective

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