Health Equity through a Women's Lens

Social Determinants of Health (e.g., income, gender and housing discrimination, underinsurance, educational status) affect health outcomes. Relative to men, women are more likely to report having anxiety, depression, arthritis, asthma, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and osteoporosis. The situation is worse for poor women and Women of Color (WOC). Pay discrimination persists and women are disproportionately poor. Poor or near-poor women are more likely than high-income women to report fair or poor overall health and limitations of activity. When asked about their health status, 17% of Latinas and more than 15% of black women say they are in fair or poor health, compared to 11% of white women. Diabetic prevalence is 2 to 4 times as high among black, Hispanic, American Indian and Asian Pacific Islander women, than it is among white women. High blood pressure, lupus and HIV/AIDS disproportionately affect WOC. WOC continue to lag 5 years behind white women in life expectancy.In an effort to promote Health Equity, our office supports Pay Equity, Health Reform, and the representation of women in medicine and the health professions, because it helps equalize access to culturally competent health services. Our office also supports Section 4302 of the Affordable Care Act that requires the collection and study of data by race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, disability status and oversampling populations to ensure robust data availability.