Why Gender and Health? Essay Example

Social justice supports the implementation of health promotion services because it ensures that all individuals receive health care equally, regardless of their race, religion, gender, or personal beliefs (Giscombe & Hamilton, 2011). Ultimately, health care professionals must take many steps to ensure that they are not biased in their implementation of care. It is therefore the personal and ethical responsibility of these individuals to increase their cultural competency so that they are able to effectively work with a diverse group of patients.

Many health care professionals are caught off guard when dealing with individuals from different cultural backgrounds. In some cases, cultural beliefs of certain societies impair the ability of medical professionals to do their jobs. For example, some cultures believe that women cannot make their own health care decisions and it is therefore the responsibility of the husband to do so. There have been cases in which a wife desires medical treatment, but the husband demands that the treatment not be given. This is an interesting issue because the professional must do what’s best for the patient, according to their wishes, rather than respecting the cultural authority of the husband (WHO, n.d.). However, in some cases, cultural competency and social justice works to support patients. For example, patients that are able to connect to their spirituality in the health care setting have been shown to achieve quick recovery due to the support that they felt as a consequence of their religious beliefs being upheld.

Overall, health care professionals have a responsibility to ensure that all of their patients are treated equally and have a fair access to care. Individuals should not be given different priorities based on their demographic status, and it is the ethical responsibility of health care workers to report social injustices if they see them occur.

References

Giscombe CW, Hamilton N. (2011). ‘Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.’ Retrieved from http://www.rwjf.org/en/culture-of-health/2013/01/_of_all_the_formsof.html

WHO. (n.d.). Why gender and health? Retrieved from http://www.who.int/gender/genderandhealth/en/