Gendered patterns of labor and ongoing patriarchal attitudes mean that women’s voices, worldviews, and cultural frames of reference are systematically neglected in the production of health knowledge and communication around health. For example, male-identified researchers tend to produce far more research on women’s health than women themselves. Men are not simply overrepresented in research, but also in practice, where they are often found in positions of professional authority (e.g., doctors, scientists, journalists, marketers) communicating to and about women. Women of color experience particular erasures at the intersection of race, class, and culture (among others), where data and perspectives gathered from white/western women are extrapolated and generalized to 'all women.'
The COVID-19 pandemic has further accentuated gender gaps in research and practice. There has been a decline in article submission rates by women, women of color, and mothers due to the interactive effects of racism and the unequal division of domestic labor. The intensified physical and mental loads of parenting, caregiving, and household management have resulted in an increased prioritization of domestic responsibilities over professional roles. COVID-era gender imbalances continue to impact women’s careers as well as the equitable production of knowledge and discursive representation of women and women’s health.
The aim of this Research Topic is to explore women-centered understandings of health and health communication from a variety of perspectives in order to address gender, racial, and cultural gaps in the production of knowledge. As part of the inaugural “Women in Communication'' collection, this Research Topic centers women and advances knowledge about women by women.
We encourage research manuscripts by women as first authors and particularly women of color in the United States and around the world. All theoretical and methodological approaches are welcome. In addition to original empirical research, we welcome theoretical and review papers, well-written narrative papers, and timely perspective papers and commentaries that shed light on women researchers’ experience during the pandemic. We welcome submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:
• social, political, physiological, and behavioral factors that influence women’s health and health communication
• gender and racial disparities in health and health communication research and practice particularly with regard to Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian/South Asian, and other women of color
• social determinants of health that have disproportionate impacts on women’s health and wellbeing (e.g., hunger, domestic violence, caregiving, health literacy, etc.)
• women’s experience in healthcare (e.g., patient-provider communication, family health communication, concerns around the over-medicalization of conditions, double burden of living with unacknowledged pain and invisible conditions/disabilities)
• analysis of media health messages and interventions geared towards women (e.g., health campaigns, direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceutical drugs, edutainment strategies, etc.)
• discussion of neglected health needs of women in health communication
• practical lessons learned from a gendered analysis of physical, mental, and social health issues
• post-disaster (e.g., earthquakes, hurricanes etc.) health needs and experience of women
• health of women in the war-torn and conflict zones where health communication and health services are limited
• women’s health and health communication in faith- and religion-based contexts
• health of women in carceral contexts including but not limited to women and families in detention centers, prisons and jails, and correctional and forensic mental health settings
• disease prevention and management strategies specific to women’s needs (e.g., pregnancy, breastfeeding, etc.) including, but not limited to, HIV and AIDS, COVID-19, heart disease, and diabetes prevention and management.
This Research Topic welcomes contributions from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, including:
• health communication
• critical-cultural health communication
• women's studies
• anti-racism and whiteness studies
• medical anthropology
• medical humanities
• medical sociology
• critical sociology
• public health
• media studies.
Gendered patterns of labor and ongoing patriarchal attitudes mean that women’s voices, worldviews, and cultural frames of reference are systematically neglected in the production of health knowledge and communication around health. For example, male-identified researchers tend to produce far more research on women’s health than women themselves. Men are not simply overrepresented in research, but also in practice, where they are often found in positions of professional authority (e.g., doctors, scientists, journalists, marketers) communicating to and about women. Women of color experience particular erasures at the intersection of race, class, and culture (among others), where data and perspectives gathered from white/western women are extrapolated and generalized to 'all women.'
The COVID-19 pandemic has further accentuated gender gaps in research and practice. There has been a decline in article submission rates by women, women of color, and mothers due to the interactive effects of racism and the unequal division of domestic labor. The intensified physical and mental loads of parenting, caregiving, and household management have resulted in an increased prioritization of domestic responsibilities over professional roles. COVID-era gender imbalances continue to impact women’s careers as well as the equitable production of knowledge and discursive representation of women and women’s health.
The aim of this Research Topic is to explore women-centered understandings of health and health communication from a variety of perspectives in order to address gender, racial, and cultural gaps in the production of knowledge. As part of the inaugural “Women in Communication'' collection, this Research Topic centers women and advances knowledge about women by women.
We encourage research manuscripts by women as first authors and particularly women of color in the United States and around the world. All theoretical and methodological approaches are welcome. In addition to original empirical research, we welcome theoretical and review papers, well-written narrative papers, and timely perspective papers and commentaries that shed light on women researchers’ experience during the pandemic. We welcome submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:
• social, political, physiological, and behavioral factors that influence women’s health and health communication
• gender and racial disparities in health and health communication research and practice particularly with regard to Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian/South Asian, and other women of color
• social determinants of health that have disproportionate impacts on women’s health and wellbeing (e.g., hunger, domestic violence, caregiving, health literacy, etc.)
• women’s experience in healthcare (e.g., patient-provider communication, family health communication, concerns around the over-medicalization of conditions, double burden of living with unacknowledged pain and invisible conditions/disabilities)
• analysis of media health messages and interventions geared towards women (e.g., health campaigns, direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceutical drugs, edutainment strategies, etc.)
• discussion of neglected health needs of women in health communication
• practical lessons learned from a gendered analysis of physical, mental, and social health issues
• post-disaster (e.g., earthquakes, hurricanes etc.) health needs and experience of women
• health of women in the war-torn and conflict zones where health communication and health services are limited
• women’s health and health communication in faith- and religion-based contexts
• health of women in carceral contexts including but not limited to women and families in detention centers, prisons and jails, and correctional and forensic mental health settings
• disease prevention and management strategies specific to women’s needs (e.g., pregnancy, breastfeeding, etc.) including, but not limited to, HIV and AIDS, COVID-19, heart disease, and diabetes prevention and management.
This Research Topic welcomes contributions from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, including:
• health communication
• critical-cultural health communication
• women's studies
• anti-racism and whiteness studies
• medical anthropology
• medical humanities
• medical sociology
• critical sociology
• public health
• media studies.
