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The social construction of health inequalities: The case of Italian women

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Gender — from Costs to Benefits

Abstract

This article focuses on the relationship between women, poverty and health - the latter being a mix of physical, psychological and social wellbeing - paying special attention to the situation in Italy. This relationship is very complex, even though it has, as yet, been little studied in Italian scientific literature, except in a few instances. The relationship should be read dynamically, in the light of the link between the burden of caring work; the way in which women are dependent on the time and paid work of husbands/partners and husbands on the unpaid work of their female partners; gender inequality in the distribution of both material and symbolic resources; and the response of the welfare system to the difficulties that can arise at the crossover points between these various dimensions (Ruspini 2001).

This article is a revised and shortened version of Ruspini (2001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Sociology of the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

    Elisabetta Ruspini

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  1. Elisabetta Ruspini
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Ursula Pasero

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© 2003 Westdeutscher Verlag/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden

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Ruspini, E. (2003). The social construction of health inequalities: The case of Italian women. In: Pasero, U. (eds) Gender — from Costs to Benefits. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-80475-4_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-80475-4_7

  • Publisher Name: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-531-14061-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-322-80475-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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