Women’s health is a complicated issue, and there’s a lot of conflicting information on it.
This article discusses some key facts about okemos women’s health and how they’re affected by various important issues including access, education, history, menstruation, reproductive rights and more.
On average, Asian-American women are the most educated Asian-American women, compared to white and black women.
This is because college education is the most powerful economic driver of gender equality. It’s also apparently due to birth control influencing fertility patterns.
As a result, Asian-American women have lower rates of pregnancy and abortion than all other ethnic groups.
They also have fewer barriers to healthcare access. However, teens are less likely to use birth control than adults. And unlike other ethnicities, they’re also less likely to have annual physicals regularly.
Main Issues of Women health :
1) Contraception
Teen birth rates are lowest for Asian-American teens – 13 per 1,000 teen girls vs. 16 for black, 18 for white and 21 for Hispanics.
This is largely because Asian-American teens are more likely to use contraception than other ethnic groups. And more than half of all Asians use some form of birth control.
Contraceptive use is higher among Asian-Americans than other ethnic groups because it’s easier to reach the older generations in the community with education programs like “Take Charge” (which is funded by the Indian Health Service.)
And Chinese American women are especially likely to get an IUD after having two or more children.
2) Health Care
Asian-American women use more preventive health care. And they’re more likely to report good health and excellent health.
This is because they tend to have a strong sense of social responsibility toward their families and communities, and often pay for care out of pocket.
3) Mental Health Issues
White, African American and Native American women are disproportionately affected by depression compared to Asian-American women.
This is partly due to cultural differences – such as Chinese Americans’ emphasis on family unity and acceptance of mental illness.
And Asians tend to be more willing than whites to seek mental health services. Almost 70% of Asian-American women with mental illness who need treatment get it, compared to 63% of whites.
However, some Asian-American populations have higher suicide rates than whites – including Cambodians and Hmong women.
This is partly due to the stress of refugee adjustment, language barriers and the tendency for Asian families to hide their problems.
There’s a particular need for close monitoring of older Asian-American women because they tend to be more isolated from support networks.
4) Domestic Violence
The rate of intimate partner violence among all ethnic groups is about the same.
However, among Asian-American women, domestic violence is more likely to be physical than emotional. It’s also more likely to be public and include groups of people.
This is partly due to cultural differences – like practices like arranged marriages and strong patriarchal family traditions.
But it’s mainly because Asian-American women are often less likely than others to report domestic violence.
On the other hand, they’re also more willing than others to leave an abusive relationship.And they tend to respond better than others with behavioral education programs.
5) Cervical Cancer Screening
Asian-American women are less likely than white women to be diagnosed with cervical cancer early, due largely to educational and income disparities.
As a result, they’re also less likely to be vaccinated against the disease.
6) Perinatal Health Care
Asian-American women tend to experience lower rates of preterm birth and low birth weight babies, which can lead to higher rates of infant mortality.
This is partly because Asian-American women tend to have more nutritional needs than other ethnic groups – so they’re more likely to have food shortages before pregnancy, especially if they live in a rural area.
And it’s also because Asian-American women are less likely to seek prenatal care early on or adopt preventive health practices.
Also as a result of these factors, Asians have higher rates of cesarean sections and hysterectomies among all ethnic groups.
7) Women’s Rights
Some studies have found that women’s rights are distributed along ethnic lines. This suggests that southern Asian countries like India and Pakistan (with traditionally conservative cultures like arranged marriages and brothels) should take more seriously the need to improve women’s life opportunities.
However, other studies suggest stronger assimilation does not necessarily lead to equality – suggesting Asian-American women may be more likely than other ethnic groups to struggle to achieve equality.
8) Reproductive Rights
Asian-American women are frequently revictimized by anti-abortion legislation seeking to restrict access to reproductive health care.
This is partly because of cultural differences, such as higher social status for men than women. And it’s partly because Asian-American women tend to be less politically active than others on this issue.
But it’s also partly due to the fact that Asian-American women are overrepresented among new immigrants who can’t speak English or lack knowledge of their legal rights.
And they’re often denied access to effective translation services.
