Envisioning Healthy Living for Women

THE WOMEN'S HEALTH MOVEMENT and three decades of health promotion research and practice have demonstrated that women's health is inextricably linked to the context of women's lives. When it comes to thinking about healthy living for women, it is therefore important to recognize and respond to the social, economic and environmental contexts that shape and constrain individual and community action for health. Women's substance use, physical activity and eating-the focus of renewed attention in light of rising rates of chronic disease-are not merely individual lifestyle choices but patterns of living arising in particular environments, shaped by personal relationships, social norms, economic circumstances and public policies.

This issue of the Research Bulletin challenges readers to consider what is required for women to lead healthful lives. The issue begins by observing that for most women, caring activities are a central feature of their lives. A woman's caring responsibilities determine how she spends her day, potentially limiting her time for other pursuits, including leisure, education, community involvement, socializing and paid employment. Caring activities effectively determine the nature of women's economic well-being.

Caring responsibilities mean that women have to balance their paid and unpaid labour. They make choices about how to raise children, care for ill family members, support aging adults and provide physical, emotional and practical support to partners. These choices are affected by the particular household configuration and intimate relations in a woman's life and by the location and nature of a woman's paid work, such as whether she is employed in a small workplace or an industry that is undergoing restructuring. A woman's economic well-being is also affected by other aspects of social security, such as the current level of social assistance benefits, the existence of state-supported child and respite care, and access to social housing.

Clearly, opportunities for healthful living vary among women according to their particular circumstances. In this vein, several authors in this issue reflect upon what could support healthful living for Aboriginal women. They suggest that it is critical to understand the health disparities confronting Aboriginal peoples in Canada and that part of the solution lies in respect for cultural identity and the appreciation that health entails integration of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects. They call for policies that are meaningful, appropriate and responsive to ameliorate the social and economic conditions that are damaging the health of Aboriginal people. For women, this also means situating their roles as caregivers and health guardians in appropriate cultural and practical contexts when proposing or implementing policies and programs.

Some of the solutions proposed in this issue lie in optimizing the health-enhancing role of the social determinants of health, including housing, social welfare policy and working conditions. Tools like gender-inclusive health planning can be used to tailor policies and programs to the particular realities of girls' and women's lives. Research and program evaluation can support the development of priorities for action, direct program implementation and track the effectiveness of policies and programs over time.

Learning from experience is an important method of supporting women to have healthier lives. A better practices review, for example, suggests that smoking during pregnancy could be reduced through tailoring interventions to particular groups of pregnant smokers and by addressing the stigma that is now associated with smoking. Similarly, supporting women's participation in physical activity requires both individual and community action. Research in British Columbia suggests that action to support recreation for women on low income is more likely to occur when the women themselves participate in a shared partnership with community decision makers.

The vision of healthy living for women described in this issue includes reducing smoking and improving exercise and nutrition, but calls for action on these problems to be appropriately tailored and sensitive to context. Moreover, the authors collectively demonstrate the need for action on the determinants of health that lie beyond the health care system in order to support women's health and women's lives. It is clearly a call to "develop polices and services which are accessible, appropriate, and enhance the ability of women to resist the health-eroding pressures of their daily lives."1

NOTES

1. Daykin N, Naidoo J. Feminist Critiques of Health Promotion. In Bunton R, Nettleton S, Burrows R (Eds.). The Sociology of Health Promotion: Critical Analyses of Consumption, Lifestyle and Risk. London and New York: Routledge, 1995;59-69.

Copyright Centres of Excellence for Women's Health Spring 2005
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