Geography

Title: Geography
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Thesis statement
Chandra Mohanty argues that common stereotypes tend to position third world women as undifferentiated and in need of help from western feminists. Therefore this paper is going to bring out the implications these stereotypes have for global health. The main focus will be on the way health issues are framed and intervention issues are designed.
Introduction
American women have historically struggled against various paradigms of inferiority that all other women in the world experience. The female identity has been perceived differently according to various cultures and customs. However, majority of the cultures are based on patriarchal past where men were viewed to be more powerful than women. Women all over the world experience discrimination in the form of education, jobs, sexuality and reproductive choice. American women have fought for their rights thus making them to own businesses, hold political offices and have reproductive and social rights to abortion, divorce and birth control unlike women in the third world countries. In addition to that, they can wear what they choose and laws have been provided to protect them from sexual assault and physical abuse. Media always portrays women as sexual objects even though they hold powerful positions and play important roles in the society.
Stereotypes are an effective and quick way to identify observable attributes of few representatives of a group (Dixon, 2009). Individuals may hear second hand information and apply these characteristics collectively to the whole population. These results about a view of the group that makes them seem overwhelming and less threatening. The use of stereotype allows individuals to feel more powerful and comfortable. It`s often difficult to understand the values, traditions, background and the essence of a person thus making it is easier to use limited knowledge to apply labels and generalize. Labels are biased and prejudiced yet they are acknowledged as stereotypes for cultures. Examples of these exist among the Native Americans or Americans and also some minor cultures such as women, liberals, conservatives, religion and police officers.(Dahlson,1993). Negative stereotyping has led to the development of rules and laws that benefits some people, punish or exclude others.
Implications that stereotype has on global health
Gender bias occurs in the treatment of psychological disorders as doctors tend to diagnose depression more in women compared to men. Gender differences exist when seeking help for psychological disorders as women are more likely to seek assistance from and disclose their mental health problems to primary health care physicians unlike men who seek specialist mental health care and principal users of inpatient care. However, it has been established that gender stereotypes regarding tendencies of women having e...