TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender discrimination in the United States
T2 - Experiences of women
AU - SteelFisher, Gillian K.
AU - Findling, Mary G.
AU - Bleich, Sara N.
AU - Casey, Logan S.
AU - Blendon, Robert J.
AU - Benson, John M.
AU - Sayde, Justin M.
AU - Miller, Carolyn
N1 - Funding Information:
Joint Acknowledgment/Disclosure Statement: This work was supported by Grant #73713 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. SteelFisher's husband has done work for Eli Lilly in the past five years and has minority ownership in a company that does work for Eli Lilly. Some readers may wish to know all healthcare-related financial relationships of the authors.
Funding Information:
Joint Acknowledgment/Disclosure Statement : This work was supported by Grant #73713 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. SteelFisher's husband has done work for Eli Lilly in the past five years and has minority ownership in a company that does work for Eli Lilly. Some readers may wish to know all healthcare‐related financial relationships of the authors.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors. Health Services Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Health Research and Educational Trust
PY - 2019/12/1
Y1 - 2019/12/1
N2 - Objective: To examine reported experiences of gender discrimination and harassment among US women. Data Source and Study Design: Data come from a nationally representative, probability-based telephone survey of 1596 women, conducted January-April 2017. Methods: We calculated the percentages of women reporting gender discrimination and harassment in several domains, including health care. We used logistic regression to examine variation in experiences among women by race/ethnicity and sexual orientation/gender identity. Principal Findings: Sizable fractions of women experience discrimination and harassment, including discrimination in health care (18 percent), equal pay/promotions (41 percent), and higher education (20 percent). In adjusted models, Native American, black, and Latina women had higher odds than white women of reporting gender discrimination in several domains, including health care. Latinas’ odds of health care avoidance versus whites was (OR [95% CI]) 3.69 (1.59, 8.58), while blacks’ odds of discrimination in health care visits versus whites was 2.00 [1.06, 3.74]. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) women had higher odds of reporting sexual harassment (2.16 [1.06, 4.40]) and violence (2.71 [1.43, 5.16]) against themselves or female family members than non-LGBTQ women. Conclusions: Results suggest that discrimination and harassment are widely experienced by women across multiple domains of their lives, particularly those who are a racial/ethnic minority or LGBTQ. Further policy and programmatic efforts beyond current legal protections for women are needed to meaningfully reduce these negative experiences, as they impact women's health care and their lives overall.
AB - Objective: To examine reported experiences of gender discrimination and harassment among US women. Data Source and Study Design: Data come from a nationally representative, probability-based telephone survey of 1596 women, conducted January-April 2017. Methods: We calculated the percentages of women reporting gender discrimination and harassment in several domains, including health care. We used logistic regression to examine variation in experiences among women by race/ethnicity and sexual orientation/gender identity. Principal Findings: Sizable fractions of women experience discrimination and harassment, including discrimination in health care (18 percent), equal pay/promotions (41 percent), and higher education (20 percent). In adjusted models, Native American, black, and Latina women had higher odds than white women of reporting gender discrimination in several domains, including health care. Latinas’ odds of health care avoidance versus whites was (OR [95% CI]) 3.69 (1.59, 8.58), while blacks’ odds of discrimination in health care visits versus whites was 2.00 [1.06, 3.74]. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) women had higher odds of reporting sexual harassment (2.16 [1.06, 4.40]) and violence (2.71 [1.43, 5.16]) against themselves or female family members than non-LGBTQ women. Conclusions: Results suggest that discrimination and harassment are widely experienced by women across multiple domains of their lives, particularly those who are a racial/ethnic minority or LGBTQ. Further policy and programmatic efforts beyond current legal protections for women are needed to meaningfully reduce these negative experiences, as they impact women's health care and their lives overall.
KW - LGBTQ health
KW - discrimination
KW - gender and health
KW - racial/ethnic differences in health and health care
KW - social determinants of health
KW - survey research and questionnaire design
KW - women's health
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U2 - 10.1111/1475-6773.13217
DO - 10.1111/1475-6773.13217
M3 - Article
C2 - 31663120
AN - SCOPUS:85074666299
SN - 0017-9124
VL - 54
SP - 1442
EP - 1453
JO - Health services research
JF - Health services research
IS - S2
ER -