Within society, women and children often represent some of the most vulnerable individuals. Women and children, as a group, are recognized as a vulnerable population. Several public health and nutrition programs, such as WIC (Women, Infants and Children) recognize this vulnerability. Women, on average, make less money than do men. They are more likely to belong to a lower socioeconomic group. Since many women are the sole providers for their children, the lower socioeconomic status also impacts the health and well-being of women. Furthermore, the vulnerability of women does not end after childbearing years.
Since women earn less over a lifetime and are more likely to live longer, they often exhaust their meager retirement accounts. As a result, women are more likely to live in poverty during their older lives. The vulnerability of women and children actually results because of an intersection of social, political and economic factors. This paper will expand upon this intersection, as well as propose new programs to help this vulnerable population.
As a group, women tend to belong to a lower socioeconomic status than do men. Socioeconomic status is considered to be the result of education, occupation and income. While women, on average, actually tend to be more likely to graduate from college than men, they still tend to have lower lifetime earnings. There are several reasons for this. The pay gap between men and women is well recognized. On average, a woman will earn less per hour than a man with equal education. Women make seventy-seven cents for every dollar that a man earns. Furthermore, women are more likely to take off significant periods of time to engage in childbearing and childrearing.
Women are often penalized for this “mommy gap” when they return to work. Over the course of a woman’s life, the difference is substantial. This also resulted in a woman having less money to invest for retirement, as well as having earned less money in Social Security. Over the course of a lifetime, a woman loses approximately $430,000 in lost income because of the pay gap (Garofalo, 2012). This loss of income in a woman’s lifetime is a combination of the political factors associated with family law, the economic factors of the value of work and the social factors associated with the value the society places on a woman and childbearing. Until social, political and economic conditions change to recognize the value of childbearing and raising a family, this pay gap likely will not change.
The socioeconomic factors related to the vulnerability of women run deep though. Women are more likely to be single heads of households. In 2006, there were 14 million women who were the single head of household compared to five million men (American Psychological Association, 2014). It is important to recognize that those in lower socioeconomic status are more likely to suffer from a variety of health disparities. Those in lower socioeconomic status are more likely to suffer from obesity, cardiovascular disease and Type II diabetes. Furthermore, they are more likely to smoke cigarettes. Since women are more likely to fall in this economic status, the women and their children are more likely to suffer from these health disparities. There is also a significant correlation between lower socioeconomic status and domestic abuse. Women, on average are more likely to become victims of domestic abuse. Furthermore, this abuse is more likely to increase in frequency and intensity when a woman is pregnant (University of Albany, n.d.).
There are obviously a significant number of issues associated with why women and children are a vulnerable population. Obviously, improving the socioeconomic status of women would assist this problem. This, however, is out of the scope of a community health program. Therefore, the community health programs should focus on the health disparities associated with the vulnerability of women.
The first program will be a preventive program. This program will focus on preventing Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and other health conditions associated with poor nutrition. The program will work to help women recognize what a healthy diet is and how it can be achieved on a low income. This program will focus on healthy meals that are low cost. For instance, women should be taught the value of cooking with fresh vegetables and legumes. Since legumes are low in cost, but high in protein and fiber, they will be the focus of many meals.
The women will be taught the economic and nutritional value of staple foods. In the current society, many individuals do not understand this value; furthermore, since our society has moved away from staple foods, many individuals do not know how to cook and to prepare them. Classes introducing these foods in easy recipes can help prevent a wide number of health disparities in women and children. A diet high in staple foods has been shown to prevent a number of health problems, including Type II diabetes (Mattei, Malik, Wedick, Spiegelman, et al, 2013, p. 1055).
The second program will focus on the value of walking 10,000 steps a day. This program will also be preventive against a wide variety of diseases. As part of this program, the women will be given a low-cost pedometer to assist them in tracking their daily steps. The cost of the pedometers may be paid for through grants; another possible way to obtain them is to ask for donations from health equipment companies. Ten thousand steps a day, on average, has been shown to be preventive for a wide number of health problems, including obesity. The pedometers will help to encourage individuals to reach this goal. Women can be taught that exercise does not require expensive equipment or gym memberships. Rather, it can be obtained walking back and forth in one’s living room if necessary. Furthermore, the children in the home will learn the value of an active lifestyle (Tudor-Locke, Craig, Brown, Clemes, et al, 2011, p. 79).
Women and children represent a vulnerable population for several reasons. Most of these reasons reflect the tendency of women to be in a lower socioeconomic status. As a result, obesity, heart disease, Type II diabetes and other medical problems can develop. Simple programs that focus on a healthy, yet affordable lifestyle can help to prevent these problems.
