Aboriginal Women Health, Essay Example

While it is important to focus on the health issues of Canadian women as a whole, it is important to consider that the health of aboriginal women are compromised compared to the general health of women in other populations. Culturally, aboriginal Canadians are considered to be the caregivers of their communities. Many people believe that gender roles are more pronounced in these communities, but it is necessary to emphasize that Native womanhood does not necessarily entail engaging in certain types of roles nor does it entail adoption of present identity (Anderson 25). Therefore, the health disparity that is observed between aboriginal women and non-native members of the population does not stem from cultural traditions. Instead, it is likely imposed as a consequence of existing bias towards members of the aboriginal community. Aboriginal women are viewed as a minority group due to their status as Canadians. Even though they have been granted equal rights to other Canadians in the past several decades, they have been historically disadvantaged which is related to their socioeconomic standing. Therefore, the health of aboriginal women is tied to their economic status and there is a need to both understand the types of health disparities that exist in addition to determining ways in which this disparity can be lessened.

The role of the woman in aboriginal society is emphasized. Like a majority of other Canadian subcultures, the mother is often viewed as the caregiver. As a consequence, she has a lot of responsibilities towards the family, and often puts the care of her children before her own. Anderson associates the role of women to a continuous exercise that entails striking a balance between a personal individuality, the position in the family unit, the much broader community, the spiritual world as well as the nation (Anderson 2). Therefore, since aboriginal women are considered to have a high level of concern for individuals in the community, it is not surprising that she would put the health needs of others before her own. This relationship becomes more pronounced when considering the financial aspect of medical care. Since the woman puts the other members of her community before herself, she is more willing to spend more for their care than for her own. Due to cultural tradition, many aboriginal communities prefer to utilize folk remedies based on plants that often require time to prepare (National Aboriginal Health Organization 1). Furthermore, since many of these plants no longer grow naturally in many Canadian territories due to land development, acquiring these treatments could often be very costly. As a consequence, Canadian aboriginal women are less likely to be able to care for themselves due to economic reasons and because they put the health of their children before themselves.

An additional consideration pertaining to aboriginal medicine is that while many of these cultural remedies were effective when they were used centuries ago, viruses and bacteria have evolved in a manner that does not allow these traditional remedies to be maximally effective. One of the most prevalent health concerns for the aboriginal women population, for example, is HIV/AIDS (Prentice 1). Since the disease evolves at a rapid rate, even Western medicine techniques are unable to prevent the virus from rapidly multiplying and targeting the immune system. Furthermore, detection methods are still not highly effective, and a majority of individuals will already have at least partial immune system damage before the HIV virus is detected. As a consequence, it is important for aboriginal women to consider that not all maladies can be cured using traditional remedies. While these techniques are effective for the treatment of some disabilities and diseases, there are many life-threatening illnesses that these methods cannot effectively treat.

As of 2003, it was reported that “Aboriginal women now account for approximately 50% of all HIV-positive test reports among Aboriginal people, compared with only 16% of their non-Aboriginal counterparts” (Prentice 1). This is an unfortunate finding because in addition to the high prevalence of this disorder among this population, there is a “startling lack of gender-specific, Aboriginal-specific, HIV/AIDS resources, programs and services to support them” (Prentice 1). Generally, aboriginal health is ignored in legislation. Even though Canada has a health system that is set up to assist all members of the public, there is a lack of education programs to help aboriginal women acquire these services. Furthermore, since there are no sufficient screening programs to help detect the disease, many aboriginal women do not know that they are infected with the HIV virus until it becomes full-blown AIDS and they will seek medical help due to the presence of apparent symptoms. This is unfortunate; it is clear that health resources are needed for this population and yet, they are not offered. Therefore, it is necessary to bring this issue to the attention of both medical volunteers and legislators so effort can be put forth to help disease detection and prevention among the aboriginal population. Unfortunately, if something is not done immediately, the incidence of HIV/AIDS will continue to rapidly spread in this population.

The author illustrates the extent to which the identity of the Native women has been broken in to pieces overtime by means of colonization, disrespect as well as abuse in the context of Native community. Anderson illustrates the efforts of cultural traditions reclamation by the Native women coupled with attempt to create positive their positive images as an indication of their heritage.

A 2001 study was conducted to determine the political, social, economic as well as ideological implications of a dominant system of health care of aboriginal women (Browne & Fiske 126). Specifically, the First Nations women in a community residing in northwestern region of Canada were evaluated. He found that a majority of the interactions with these women were based on racism and knowledge of structural inequalities. Furthermore, healthcare experiences of such women was associated with political, historical, and economic implications. This is an important understanding because it demonstrates that social change may be necessary to ensure equal health care access for aboriginal women. Overall, while a majority of Canadians act as if they are not biased against these native peoples, it is clear that there is a large lack of respect for their culture as a consequence of legislation that has prohibited their ability to thrive in a new culture.

Even though aboriginal Canadians are allowed to live in their native lands, the mere fact that they are labeled as Canadians undermines their cultural tradition. A majority of these aboriginal peoples did not associate with any land ownership and as a consequence, resided in both the United States and Canada before borders were imposed. As a result of these new laws, native peoples were required to identify with either nationality, when in reality, they did not want to associate themselves with either. If we continue to push our concepts of social normalities onto the aboriginal people, they will not be able to thrive. They have not been able to establish themselves as Canadians not only because they don’t want to, but because legislation has been put in place that has prevented them from being able to gain a reasonable amount of wealth in this country. It could be said that they are still being judged for their cultural beliefs and in a sense, for the poverty that Canadian governance has brought upon them. There is a need for major change to ensure that this will no longer be the case.

Women are labelled as givers of life in the context of customary aboriginal cultures. The traditional role of women was thus held with high esteem (Grace 359). In the modern setting, however, a majority of aboriginal women are exposed to higher risks of complicated health issues compared to other women living in Canadian society. This is in part due to the rapid transformations of aboriginal culture. Aboriginal people were considered to be very active because their basic needs for survival relied on changing locations based on seasons and hunting to get food. However, the aboriginal population has become increasingly sedentary since they have no longer been able to participate in their historical cultural traditions. Furthermore, many of these individuals are unable to follow healthy and nutritious diets due to financial constraints. While aboriginal Canadians were once considered very healthy, they are now no longer to consume a proper balance of fruits, vegetables, and meats by living of their land. Instead, they are required to purchase food from markets that may not offer the same choices for an affordable price. As a consequence, there is a high rate of obesity and type 2 diabetes among many aboriginal women (National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health 9). Furthermore, women are being diagnosed with this illness at a younger age compared to their non-aboriginal counterparts. Therefore, it is important for the government to help these individuals acquire resources that will promote their health. It is apparent that these “lifestyle choices” aren’t really an option for aboriginal women and it is therefore distressing to see them suffering in this manner.

Overall, evidence has indicated that the document life expectancy of aboriginal women has been shorter compared to their non-aboriginal counterparts (Grace 359). Furthermore, rates of suicides are also higher among this group. Aboriginal women are also highly affected by cardiovascular and respiratory ailments, cervical cancer, problems of mental health, sexually transmitted ailments, liver cirrhosis, disability and common infections as compared as compared to the non-aboriginal women. Even though it appears that many ailments disproportionately impact the aboriginal women population, the cause of all these problems are linked to societal factors. Low socioeconomic status predisposes them for depression and many other physical ailments in some cases. Obesity and obesity-related illnesses, such as cardiovascular and respiratory disease are examples of this. In others, a lack of preventative education in these communities is the cause for increased disease incidence. The spread of sexually transmitted ailments and prevention of common infections is a result of a lack of these education programs.

Some aboriginal women respond to these issues by relocating with their children to escape both health concerns and an increased likelihood of suffering from domestic violence. Because they are unable to receive the support they need within their communities, they feel the need to leave their culture and family behind to be able to receive the help they need to continue living their lives. Many of these individuals are forced to live in dangerous environments, which can often include overcrowded housing. It is unfortunate that these women believe that they stand a better chance of living a happy life by abandoning their cultural traditions. However, society is set up in a manner that prevents these individuals from achieving satisfaction if they are unwilling to leave their aboriginal communities. Rather than forcing these underprivileged women to leave their cultures, it is important to provide them with resources to help prevent the disparities that are in place against them. Understanding the problems faced by the aboriginal women and providing them with much needed help will strengthen the Canadian community as a whole. It is important to advocate on their behalves to ensure that this change can become a reality.

Works Cited

Anderson, K. A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood. Toronto: Sumach Press, 2000.

Browne, A. & Fiske, J. First Nations Women’s Encounters with Mainstream Health Care Services. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 23, 126, 2001.

Grace, S. Aboriginal Women. In D. E. Stewart, A. M. Cheung, L. E. Ferris, I. Hyman, M. M. Cohen, & J. I. Williams (Eds.), Ontario Women’s Health Status Report (pp. 359-373), 2002.

National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health. 2013. Web. 26 July 2015.

National Aboriginal Health Organization. About. 2015. Web. 26 July 2015.

Prentice T. Alarming rates of HIV/AIDS for Canada’s Aboriginal women. 2005. Web. 26 July 2015.