Gender Stereotyping and Medicalization

Running head: GENDER STEREOTYPING AND MEDICALIZATION
Gender Stereotyping and Medicalization
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1GENDER STEREOTYPING AND MEDICALIZATION
Title 2. Feminists argue that gender stereotyping and medicalization have historically had a
negative impact on women’s health. Discuss.
The aim of this paper is to analyze the stereotyping and medicalization of women
through history and the negative impacts it has had on women. In order to do that,
understanding the meanings of stereotyping and medicalization is important. Though women
form almost half the population of the world, they have been treated with negative
stereotyping largely and that has affected their position in the society (Becker 2019). As is
common for any marginalized or discriminated sector of society, their physical and mental
health issues have remained in backseat for years. This essay describes the meanings of
stereotyping and medicalization and its relationship with women’s health. Moreover, it also
explores the history women’s social construction as an effect of stereotyping and the
medicalization of women during the transformative phases of life. Finally, it analyses the
effects of these stereotyping on women’s health and their treatment in society.
Stereotyping is a misplaced belief of notion that people form on other people or thing.
This opinion of the other is based on their general outlook and appearance which are most
likely untrue or only partially true. It is a prejudicial thought about people as in most cases,
the outer appearance is only a minute part of the actual person inside. In social psychological
context there could be both positive and negative stereotyping. Positive stereotyping happens
when people hold a subjectively favorable belief about a group (O'Connell and Zampas
2019). For example, women are often associated with warmth and communal behavior.
Negative stereotyping happens when people hold negative or potentially unfavorable view
about a group. For example, women are considered to be the major caregiver in the family
due to their associated belief of being warm. As it can be seen, positive and negative
stereotyping goes hand in hand and one naturally leads to the other. Medicalization on the
other hand is a process through which existing problems that were thought to be non-medical

2GENDER STEREOTYPING AND MEDICALIZATION
comes to be defined and the need for treatment gets recognized as medical problems
commonly require treatment. Women have had a long drawn and struggling history of
medicalization due to social stereotyping.
Historically, the issue of women health has been colored by the prejudices regarding
women. They have been considered madder, sickly and the weaker sex biologically. This led
to natural behavior, anger, opinion and protests of women being considered as a result of
their madness. As madness, anger and hysteria were considered a possession by birth, they
were not considered to be medical conditions or worth giving proper medical attention and
diagnosis. The social construction of women has been guided by negative stereotyping
related to gender. Stereotyping of women as mad is also related to cultural control of women
as it has been long associated with insanity and irrationality. In numerous writings f Victorian
women writers, there are mentions of a system of rest cure, specially designed for women
suffering from postpartum depression or other forms of clinical psychological issues
(MacDonald 2019). The name suggests that the problems that women suffered were not
considered worth medicalization and rest and isolation can cure them.
The conceptualization of women as sickly and weak is also a social construct as the
biological features of women and societal norms, values and gender roles forces women to
remain indoor, abstain from strenuous work and thus making them weaker than men. The
society also considers men as the protector of women that is built upon the idea of women as
the weaker sex (Flanders, Dobinson and Logie 2017). Moreover, the sickly nature of women,
as society likes to believe is also a result of importance that is given to make children. Men
have been considered as the natural beneficiary of familial property and thus were given
better care, nourishment and importance. Lack of attention, expectations of responsibility and
assumptions of being able to survive with the minimal has led to the sickly nature of women
historically.