How does the gender issue negatively affect woman in relation to social Constructions / Labelling in Woman’s Mental Health.


Introduction
It could be suggested that the nature nurture issue and its affects on society has been the subject of debate since the dawn of time. It could also be suggested that since then as a result of the basic biological characteristics attributed to an individual as defined by gender, woman have negatively been discriminated against and defiled.
This essay will demonstrate the affects of labelling and social constructions on woman’s mental health from cradle to grave.
It will demonstrate how gender roles and stereotyping has affected woman’s role in society reflecting historical facts and sociological theories to support this.
It will demonstrate how social constructions help to reinforce gender roles and negatively affect woman’s role in the workplace and in society in generally which may result in increased risk of mental/emotional illness.
It will demonstrate how female gender stereotyping labels have resulted in negative discrimination in both care provision and career advancement in all areas of care relating to mental health.
I have chosen this subject because it is one that I have great personal interest in and also because it is something that I believe has a major impact on the lives of everyone irrespective of there gender.
I shall attempt to support my argument with citations from various sources which I shall critically analyse and support my finding with statistics and supporting evidence.
I shall identify areas where positive advancements have been made and demonstrate with related theories why some areas have failed to improve and conclude with suggestion of what could be done to improve these issues.
Gender labelling stereotyping and social constructions
Our culture has been deeply penetrated by the notion that “man”-not woman- is created in the image of God. This notion persists, despite the likelihood that the creation goes in the other direction: that God is a human projection of the image of man. No known religion, past or present, ever succeeded in establishing a completely sexless deity. Worship was always accorded either a female or a male; occasionally a sexually united couple or an androgynous symbol of them; but deities had a sex just as people have a sex. Walker, B. (1983) The woman’s encyclopaedia of Myths and secrets
Social constructions are the phenomena created by religious medical political and legal hierarchy to control and indoctrinate the masses according David Cooper (1971) in his Death of the family.
For the last three centuries western societies have justified discrimination and the oppression of woman with scientific ideology based on medical, physiological and social sciences. In the years before that religion through the churches, scriptures and the Inquisition served as the defilers of women. Szasz, T, (1971) The Manufacture of Madness.
Cooper describes “the family” in terms of the patriarchy and describes the family in terms of social constructions as a learning tool from which we learn our moral, ethical and social believes.
From these beginnings the labelling process which affects everyone becomes established. Cooper goes on to elaborate on how the family or nuclear family in western society is applied through urbanisation, religious organisations and medical and legal judgments.
Becker, H. (1967) supported these ideas and in his outsiders which explains how labelling affects individuals in many diverse ways by religion race gender and social class as well as behavioural attributes and recognises that labelling and stigmatization can also be applied through associations and preconceived ideas as to how certain types of people are expected to, or are thought to behave or react to social phenomena depending on the label they have to been given.
If we predate woman’s role in society to before the influences of Christian ideology four words are often closely related, woman, witch, midwife and healer.
Women have a long history as community healers in pre-industrial Europe and colonial America. “The good woman” “cunning woman” or “wise woman” was the person to whom people turned in times of illness she represented the chief medical practitioner available to a community living in constant poverty and disease. Mitchell, J. & Oakley, A. (1976) The Right And Wrongs Of Woman.

These woman earned there label as healers and community leaders because they knew about pharmacology, anatomy, biology, physiotherapy, and astrology and they grew and cultivated the natural remedies that make up the basis of many modern medicines.
However Christian ideology devilled woman from the beginning with the assertion that eve, having tempted Adam with what has come to be known as the original sin, was responsible for the condemnation of humanity.
The catholic encyclopaedia declares, “The female sex in some respects inferior to the male sex, both as regards body and soul.”
The bible has supported sexist sentiments which have been echoed by all churchmen. According to the gospel of Thomas: “Woman are not worthy of life” and Clement of Alexander quoted Christ from the Gospel According to the Egyptians: I have come to destroy the works of the female. He added: “Every woman ought to be filled with shame at the thought that she is a woman.”
It could be suggested that the Christian theology system was designed by men for men to suppress and restrict the interests of women and in order to do this, women were deemed as the consort or decoys of the devil. Official church literature said:
All wickedness is but little to the wickedness of woman…The natural reason is that she is more carnal than a man, as is clear from her many carnal abominations. And it should be noted that there was a defect in the formation of the first woman, since she was formed from a bent rib, that is the rib of the breast, which is bent as it were in a contrary direction to man. And since this defect she is an imperfect animal, she always deceives.
However modern genetic research suggests the reverse of this idea as the XY chromosome that produces a male is physiologically an “incomplete” female chromosome. The woman’s encyclopaedia of Myths and secrets
The transaction from wise woman leader and carer of the community to witch, devil worshipper , lunatic and social outcast has been well documented by Thomas Szasz in his comparative study of the inquisition and the mental health movement THE MANUFACTURE OF MADNESS(1973).
Szasz argues that historically it has been proven through western society the plight of woman as scapegoats has been successfully applied through the labelling process and stigmatization particularly among the lower classes.
The role of woman as “wise woman “challenged and threaten male dominant society.
Three hierarchies corresponded: church over laity, man over woman and landlord over peasant. Mitchell & Oakley. (1976)
The inquisition was a created by and large by church leaders (men) as a mechanism for social control. Information was collected from the public that could lead to the discovery of information that could suggest deviant behaviours. Informers were often paid for or favoured for the information. During the inquisition the accused were seldom allowed an attorney. Woman children and slaves were allowed to testify against the witch but it was forbidden to testify in her defence. Courts had the power to seize the personal property and assets of anyone found guilty of any charges brought by the inquisition. The inquisition was finally restrained in the nineteenth century however it survives today and has been known as the “Concretion For The Doctrine Of The Faith” since December 1965.
Woman accused of witch craft tended to be Married or widowed, middle aged or old and of low socio-economic class. By the time of the last execution of a witch in England in 1684 the church had established that the role of woman was one of inferiority to men.
With the hierarchy of male dormancy established and men predominant in medical, political and religious professions it could be suggested it was easy to then establish a pattern of dominance through social constructions that negatively affects woman.

.Medical and psychological
The introduction of the mental health prospective
Having taken the role of wise woman from the female of the species a role then had to be assigned to them by the church to justify there existence given they were such vile and evil creatures. Thus the carer roles of woman from the nurturing aspects were established as woman’s purpose to create, nurture and maintain life, the matriarch role.
Having already successfully applied the deviant role to woman though religious propaganda which deemed them of inferior biological ,and moral standing to men and successfully explained there biological function , to give life, as a punishment for being evil,( the pain of childbirth) gender discrimination was, it could be suggested, the first social construction of western society.
It could be also be suggested that because woman have been biologically designed to nurture and create life, responsibility for its primary stages was easily assigned to them, via the biological factors which are rooted in the alpha male, female roles of male, hunter gatherer, female nurturer carer as Abbot and Wallace (1990) explained and who also recognised the creation of these socially constructed role were made by men.
It became thus predominantly the role of the medical profession via psychiatry and psychology to keep woman in there subservient position.

The now male dominant medical profession used the madness/ insanity card to support it’s theories on female inferiority and helped to sustain and support the churches ideologies in the process.
The original definition of madness dates back to the 17th century, as the condition which justifies confinement in the asylum, and is accurately demonstrated by Szasz,
“To be considered mad, it was enough to be abandoned, destitute, poor, unwanted by parents or society” and continues reflecting how such incarceration were not in the best interest of those being diagnosed and incarcerated,” this action was to be taken on the complaint of parents, or, if these were dead, of near relatives, or the parish priest. The wayward children were kept as long as the directors deemed wise and were to be released only on written order by four directors. The Manufacture of madness, (1971).
Unsurprisingly all of these conditions were also regarded as synonymous with being female.

At its roots medicine regarded mental illness generally as a biological, genetic or chemical mal-function in the individual, and continued to follow in the traditions of Charcot (1825-1893) and capelin (1856-1926). Whose primary focus was neurology.
Charcot believed that hysteria/madness a term, which was and still is, used as a characteristic associated with woman, and mental health in all its forms, was a neurological disorder caused by hereditary problems in the nervous system.
It could be argued that Chariot’s most important contribution to psychiatry was that he defined hysteria (madness) as an illness rather than a mode of malingering a popular label attached to suffer of mental health issues.
Charcot used hypnosis to induce a state of hysteria and studied the results, and was accredited with changing the medical community's opinion about the validity of hypnosis.
The medical model the term, (cited by R D. Laing in his The Politics of the Family and Other Essays) as the "set of procedures in which all doctors are trained." aims to find medical treatments for diagnosed symptoms and syndromes of mental ill health based on assumptions of Kraepelen.
Kraepelin identified three major severe psychiatric disorders; dementia praecox, later renamed schizophrenia, by Bleuler (1857-1939). Manic depression, which covers all mood disorders, and paranoia, which basis the diagnosis of patients under the label of delusional.
The transaction from the term witch to mental patient was not a difficult one and is well documented by sociologist, physiologists and feminist and is recognized widely to be the roots of female, stereotyping, stigmatization, incarceration and discrimination in society and is best illustrated by Ssaz’s (1971) the manufacture of madness and the Myth of mental and The myth of Mental illness (1960).
Szasz’s findings are supported by Shoman's. (1970) who utilized the labeling process as part of communication theory as a genetic theory of deviance and by Shoham and Rahav (1968) as an explority set of hypotheses to explain prostitution in authoritarian families.
The stigma premises as related to crime and deviance, operated on low levels. The first was related to the stigmatizing pressure of the community and the public at large on conflicted offenders to commit further crimes and deviations, and the second related to the internalization of tags of deviation, and badness as a raw material for the formation of negative ego-identity . In other words the first aspect related to the casualty of recidivism whereas the second was intended to explain the etiology of some types of delinquency, crime and deviance Shoham. Society and the absurd

The problem with medicine, Laing argues is that because the diagnosis of mental illness is based on the conduct or behavior of the patient, and not on pathology, the "diagnosis" contravenes standard medical procedure and therefore the medical model’s examinations and tests which are usually conducted after the diagnosis unlike with physical diseases and ailments which are diagnosed by evident pathology found during examinations and tests, mental illness is diagnosed by patient's conduct with only a hint of a pathology not cited at the time of diagnosis.
As the medical model approaches mental health issues from a traditional, scientific and biological medical prospective it has limitations which include a failure to appreciate the significance of internal experiences, lack of recognition of individuality and diversity, and lack of appreciation of the role of culture in mental health. It has also been suggested that by so doing the medical model actually contributes to, rather than elevates the problem by continuing to treat patients with mind altering drugs like chlorpromazine, Librium, Diazepam, Seroxat and other tranquilizer and Benzedrine varieties all which are often encompassed under the umbrella of anti-depressant drugs and used as anti- psychotic drug treatments over long periods which can cause side effects that in fact reflect symptoms commonly cited in the diagnosis of mental health issues such as memory loss, anxiety, insomnia, irritability, mood swings, paranoia and lethargy. As the BBC’ panorama demonstrated when it investigated Seroxat. PANORAMA. THE SECRETS OF SEROXAT BBC-1.13th oct,2002

Freud (1856-1939), founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, revolutionized the approach to psychiatric medicine with his theories of the unconscious mind, involving the mechanism of repression; and his theory of transference in the therapeutic relationship and also his ideas on dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires. Freud influenced not just psychiatric medicine but feminist theories, philosophy, and psychology. However, his theories remain controversial. Although Freud was an early champion of both sexual freedom and education for women some feminists have argued that at worst his views of women's sexual development set the progress of women in back decades. However others like feminist theorists like Nancy Chodorow, have suggested that psychoanalytic theory is essential in relation to the feminist projects and should be adapted by women to free it from of sexism.
In "Freudianism: The Misguided Feminism", Shulamith Firestone discusses how Freudianism is essentially accurate, with the exception of one crucial detail: everywhere that Freud wrote "penis", the word should be replaced with "power". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud

THE SOCIOLPGICAL PROSPECTIVE
The deviant label has historically been as synonymous with mental health diagnosis as it has been with woman. “Deviant behavior” the term used as the behavior of the mental health patient deviates from the accepted norm of the cultural and societal rules laid down by the hierarchy of those making the diagnosis. Usually men. Social class will also be a contributing factor. Historically British society’s hierarchies and rule makers have traditionally belonged to upper and middle classes and are predominantly white Christian males.
It is also notable that often the deviant/ mentally ill label may be applied to someone without them ever having committed an act of deviance by there association with those labeled under the vast umbrella of deviant behaviors, as is explained by Becker in his The outsiders (1963).
Sociologist and feminist would agree that gender roles and stereotype linked to mental health issues have been the sole foundations of female discrimination since the dawn of creation. Martin Luther claimed the physical differences between men and woman demonstrated God’s plan for sexism. And stated that woman should stay at home and bear children as this was what they were made for, and if they should tier and die from this function it was no big deal as it was there purpose. Woman’s encicoplidia.

Political prospective
Effects Of Government Ideology And Policy
When considering government policy in the health and social care area it is important to understand the ideological belief which that policy is grounded on and how it can disadvantage certain groups within society while benefiting others.
Arguably the most influential political ideologies on the beginning of the welfare state in Britain as it is today are those attributed to the ideas of Fabianism. Fabians led by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, believed that socialism in Britain was compatible with institutions of the state and should be brought through parliamentary routes. They felt that government should promote the collective good umpiring between the demands of different interests, giving birth to ‘social administration’ which laid the foundations of today’s ‘social policy’
Fabians believed in the gradual social reform (‘inherent in the notion in gradual social change was the concept of the ethical socialism apparent in the writing theorist such as Tawney and Marshall. Within their writings was a notion of equality which emphasised self-esteem and dignity’) Alcock. Payne and Sullivan (2000, p30).
60’s social and sexual revolution
Since the social and sexual revolution of the 1960 the feminist movement has com along way in the work place and home, however, stereotyping and labeling resulting in and from, poor mental health, is still a predominant factor in the discrimination of woman in the workplace within the care sector despite anti-discriminatory legislation such as Equal Opportunities Act ( ), The Mental Health Act (1983), Nhs And Community Cat Act (1990), Criminal Justice Act 1991,
Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995, Crime and Disorder Act (1995), Care Standards Act 2000 and Health and Social Care Act 2001
It is argued by many feminist that even under these acts of legislation woman are still widely
Unprotected and discriminated against by law and this is supported by government figures that reflect inequalities and inadequacies of Health and welfare in Britain.
Statistically evidence
Mental health/depression
Women are more likely to be treated for mental health issues than men (29% compared to 17%). it is suggested this is because when asked, women are likely to report symptoms of common mental health problems.- Better Or Worse: A Longitudinal Study Of The Mental Health Of Adults In Great Britain, National Statistics (2003)
Depression is more common in women than men. 1 in 4 women require treatment for depression at some time in there life’s, compared to 1 in 10 men It has also been suggested that depression in men may have been under diagnosed because they present to their GP with different symptoms. National Institute for Clinical Excellence (2003)
Women are twice as likely to experience anxiety as men. Of people with phobias or OCD, about 60% are female. - The Office for National Statistics Psychiatric Morbidity report (2001)
Men are more likely than women to have an alcohol or drug problem. 67% of British people who consume alcohol at ‘hazardous’ levels, and 80% of those dependent on alcohol are male. Almost three quarters of people dependent on cannabis and 69% of those dependent on other illegal drugs are male. - The Office for National Statistics Psychiatric Morbidity report (2001)
One in four unemployed people has a common mental health problem- The Office for National Statistics Psychiatric Morbidity report (2001)
1 in 5 older people living in the community and 2 in 5 living in care homes. are affected by Depression - Adults In Later Life with Mental Health Problems, Mental Health Foundation quoting Psychiatry in the Elderly (3rd edition) Oxford University Press (2002)
Dementia affects 5% of people over the age of 65 and 20% of those over 80.
Approximately 700,000 people in the UK have dementia (1.2% of the population) at any one time. - National Institute For Clinical Excellence (2004)
Discrimination/ victimisation
Education
A 2003 study found that less than half of young pregnant women and young mothers were able to access a full curriculum.
60% of teenage mothers had no qualifications by their early 20s compared with 25% of women who had become mothers after their teenage years.
In 2006, female graduates earned, on average, 15% less than their male counterparts at the age of 24, with this gender pay gap widening with age (increasing to 40.5% for women graduates aged 41-45) which suggests that If graduate debt rises to £26,000 (which is likely with ‘top-up3 fees) this would suggest a woman earning £36,000 with two children, 19 years to pay back her student loan. In contrast, a man earning the same salary would take 15 years to repay this debt.
In 2002 women were under-represented in management positions in schools, only 31% of secondary heads are female.
Approximately 1,000 women per year in England and Wales take legal action resulting from dismissal due to pregnancy. This is only 3% of all women experiencing discrimination at work when pregnant according to figures from 2003.
The average award for injury in sex discrimination cases involving pregnancy related dismissal is £2,000 lower than in non-pregnancy related dismissal cases.
One in five women returning from maternity leave are given lower grade jobs
The gender pay gap in the UK is one of the highest in Europe: women working full-time earn17% less per hour than men and women working part-time earn 39% less per hour than men working full-time.
About 30,000 women in the UK leave their jobs each year because of pregnancy discrimination
Women in full-time employment spend nearly 30% more time on childcare every day than men in full-time employment. http://www.whywomen.org.uk/Downloads/Statistics.pdf

Domestic abuse affects 1 in 4 women in the UK. Every 60 seconds. According to Telford and Wrekin councils community living web page, Woman as victims)
In comparison “The figures on the extent of violence against men vary; the 2001/02 British Crime Survey (BCS) found that 19% of domestic violence incidents reported were male victims and just under half of these were by a female perpetrator”.
The cost of Domestic abuse is outlined by Baker, I (2007) in his report no blame no shame, (2002 – 2007 ) is that there were 1827 incidents of domestic violence reported to the police from 1st April 2002 to 31st March 2003, which was an increase of 5.5% compared to the same period from previous years
The statistics suggest that for every 1000 women 250 will experience Domestic abuse within their life time in comparison to1000 men, 166 will experience Domestic abuse.
Prostitution has a female to male ratio of 4 to 174% of female prostitutes cited poverty, supporting children and household expenses, as a primary motivator for
Girls and young women are t twice as likely to be on the child protection register for sexual abuse as boys and young men.
It is estimated that 100,000 young people under 16 run away from home or care each year. Children in care are more likely to abscond, with girls being twice as likely to run away as boys.

Despite the fact that a criminal record can have life-long consequences for young women, the Government maintains there are “compelling arguments” for maintaining criminal offences for sex workers under 18 years.
It is estimated that 95% of women involved in prostitution have a drug or alcohol addiction. Most teenage prostitutes are involved in street prostitution, estimated to be 10 times more dangerous than working indoors. http://www.whywomen.org.uk/Downloads/Statistics.pdf
Mental health related issues are probably the most commonly used methods in the continual suppression and discrimination of woman.
However these facts clearly reflect that not only is there a need for societal changes in regard to these issues but that given these factors it surely indicates that there is justifiable reason for women to be concerned, angry, and unsatisfied with these inequalities and inadequacies within the health and welfare sector, as well as justifiable cause to be depressed irrespective of the prospective of the hierarchy be they religious, medical / physiological / physical, legal/political or societal / class / environment/demography.

Thompson (1993) argues that the 60’s was significant in a number of ways.
First, feminist thought gained recognition as a “liberation movement”. Issues of equality of rights and equal opportunity became firmly established in the political agenda and issues surrounding the oppression of ethnic minorities and racial discrimination achieved more prominence politically in the mass media. He also notes the tendency towards the raising of consciousness inspired by both the drug culture and political; radicalism, a time ‘of idealism and anti-establishment challenge of the status quo’1993: 3. Lago, c. and smith, b. (2003) anti-discriminatory counseling practice. London; Sage publications.
The influences of Americas ‘third force’ theories and ideals from Maslow (1908-1970), and Rogers (1902-1987). And writing of Lang, R.D. (1965) The Divided self. Harmondsworth. Penguin. paved the way towards the humanist and holistic approach we now strive to apply in health and social care and has got to be recognised as playing an influential role in the feminist movements cause and heralded an attitude that has got to be recognised as benefiting woman in relation to health and social welfare in treatment of woman in work and social equality but it is also fair to suggest that it hasn’t done enough and still has a long way to go. As statistics continue to reflect that woman are still widely discriminated against within the health and welfare sector as a whole.

In conclusion
As a woman my own experiences within the care sector as patient, student and employee have taught me that the impact of socially constructed ideas in relation to the gender debate have greatly affected and influenced my own work ethic as well as my personal development morally and ethically and has its roots firmly planted in the holistic, humanist and existentialist philosophy.
Undeniably my believes have been moulded by the various treatment and therapies I have received as a mental health patient under various diagnosed labels applied to me as both mental health patient and woman, based on various assumptions by various members of the care profession that I have encountered in various sectors that on reflection and personal research has indicated was miss or badly/ wrongly diagnosed labelling that reflected stereotypical ideas on my behaviours.
It is also undeniable that these miss diagnoses were as a direct result of societal issues that I now understand to be related to the secret deviant behaviour as described by Beker, H. (1963 ) that was a direct result of negative stereotyping and labelling.
Coupled with this my experiences within the care industry working in the residential sector with children with behavioural and emotional issues resulting from societal influences and with elderly clients predominately female clients in community care roles I have witnessed and experienced discrimination that has resulted directly from physiological issues that have resulted from sociological factors suggesting that the only way to make any headway in irradiating the mental health issues, in relation to inequalities and discrimination, not just towards woman but in society as a whole is to address the socially constructed stereotyping agenda although, it could also be suggested that this will only ever be achieved if the men of society adapt a more feminist prospective.




References
Abbot and Wallace (1990)
Adults In Later Life with Mental Health Problems, Mental Health Foundation quoting Psychiatry in the Elderly (3rd edition) Oxford University Press (2002)
Alcock. Payne and Sullivan (2000, p30).
Baker, I (2007) blame no shame, (2002 – 2007 )
Beker, H. (1963). Outsiders. Free Press
Better Or Worse: A Longitudinal Study Of The Mental Health Of Adults In Great Britain,
The Office for National Statistics Psychiatric Morbidity report (2001)
Bleuler (1857-1939).Bracha L. Ettinger
Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995
Care Standards Act 2000
Charcot (1825-1893) and capelin (1856-1926).
Criminal Justice Act 1991
Crime and Disorder Act (1995)
David Cooper (1971) in his Death of the family
Human Rights act (1998)
Health and Social Care Act 2001
Kraepelen.
R D. Laing in his The Politics of the Family and Other Essays) ,R.D.(1971)The Politics of the Family, Tavistock
Lang, R.D. (1965) The Divided self. Harmondsworth. Penguin.
. Luce Irigaray
Maslow (1908-1970), and Rogers (1902-1987
Madness and morals Joseph Berke(ed.)
Mitchell, J. & Oakley, A. (1976) The Right And Wrongs Of Woman
Morton Schatzman
Nancy Chodorow
National Statistics (2003)
National Institute for Clinical Excellence (2003)
Nhs And Community Cat Act (1990)
PANORAMA. THE SECRETS OF SEROXAT BBC-1.13th oct,2002.
SEX OFFENDERS ACT 2003
National Institute For Clinical Excellence (2004)
Scheff,T.J.(1966),Being Mentally Ill; A Sociological Theory, Weidenfeild & Nicolson
Shoman's. (1970)
Shoham and Rahav (1968).
Shoham Society and the absurd(1974) Basil Blackwell .oxford
Shulamith Firestone.( 1945)"Freudianism: The Misguided Feminism",
Szasz,T.S (1960) The myth of mental illness
Szasz,T.S (1971).The manufacture of madness, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.
Tawney and Marshall.
The Mental Health Act (1983),
The Office for National Statistics Psychiatric Morbidity report (2001)
Telford and Wrekin councils community living web page, Woman as victims)
2001/02 British Crime Survey (BCS)
Thompson (1993) quo’1993: 3. Lago, c. and smith, b. (2003) anti-discriminatory counseling practice. London; Sage publications.
Walker, B. (1983) The woman’s encyclopaedia of Myths and secrets
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud
http://www.whywomen.org.uk/Downloads/Statistics.pdf
http://www.whywomen.org.uk/Downloads/Statistics.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_model`
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/2310197.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud