The Patriarchal System: The Exclusion of Women in Medical Case Studies
Patriarchy & Androcentrism defined:
Sexism is perpetuated by systems of patriarchy where male-dominated structures and social arrangements elaborate the oppression of women. Patriarchy almost by definition also exhibits androcentrism, meaning male centered. Coupled with patriarchy, androcentrism assumes that male norms operate through out all social institutions and become the standard to which all persons adhere. Males become the unit of analysis. This is extremely detrimental to women's health due to hormonal/physiological differences. As the oldest social institution, the family is seen as the place where patriarchy originated and eventually reproduced throughout society. The organization of the Latino culture is extremely patriarchal. A woman's role is constantly defined by her relation to the men in her life. She is a daughter, a wife, or a mother, she is never simply a woman.
Sexism:
The categories of male and female are stereotyped such that members of the category are assumed to possess certain characteristics by virtue of their biological categories. This results in sexism, the belief that one category, female, is inferior to the other, male.
Consider a federally funded study which examined the effects of diet on breast cancer. Only men were used as sample subjects. (Tavris, 1996). What is known about the natural history of diseases and their treatment in men is inapplicable to women. Evidence suggests that gender bias has flawed some medical research. This bias in research extends to areas such as lack of analysis of study results by gender, scarcity of interdisciplinary research, inadequate funding for research on diseases primarily affecting women, and lack of female researchers (Giudice, 1991: Keville, 1993). In countering these trends there also needs to be the recognition that when women are used as research subjects, they are likely to be white and middle class (Rothman and Caschetta, 1995). The interplay of race and class in particular must be accounted for to make findings applicable to a diverse population of women.
Research on heart disease and AIDS are notable examples where exclusion of women in clinical trials are ominous. Two widely publicized studies on the effect of low doses of aspirin and the risk of heart attack were conducted using study samples of 12,866 general subjects and 22,071 physicians, respectively. All subjects in both studies were male ( Rosser, 1994). The reduced heart attack risk that emerged from this research was considered so spectacular that the public was made aware of the potential results before the findings were published. These findings cannot be generalized to women, in part because the role of estrogen needs to be considered.
And as Healy (1991) notes, the exclusion of women in research reinforces the notion that heart disease is primarily a male affliction. It is still the leading cause of death among women and women have a greater risk in the year following the first heart attack than men. Women also receive less aggressive cardiac care than men simply because heart disease is considered a male illness (Young and Kahana, 1993).
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Another example of the patriarchal system at work is the emergence of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It is an illness that is in the same family as mono and Epstein Barr. When it first emerged it was prevalent among women. When these women complained about the symptoms from their illness, they were often dismissed as merely wanting attention. Some were told to simply change their hairstyle or to buy something pretty (Healy 1991). Often physicians referred these women to psychiatrists. It was not until recently that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was recognized as a legitimate illness. The notion of the hysterical woman has been used by physicians to dismiss legitimate concerns.
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