Research results from University of Tampere update knowledge of gender studies.(Report)

"The substantial gender difference in life-expectancy is among the key characteristics of current health crisis in Russia. Despite a relatively large body of epidemiological literature on gender difference, there is little empirical research on the gendered meanings of health among Russian lay people," scientists in Tampere, Finland report (see also Gender Studies).

"This study aims to enhance understanding of gendered meanings of health by analysing lay accounts of the gender gap in life-expectancy on the basis of 29 interviews with Russians aged 15-81. The analysis showed that gender difference was largely attributed to structural conditions and changes in Russian society and, to a lesser extent, to behavioural factors. Another important conclusion drawn from the analysis was that talk about gender included very few alternatives to conventional gender relations, or negotiation of their effects on health and illness. We interpret these findings to reflect, first, the culturally weak role of the individual in Russian discourses of health that are still largely focused on the role of government as primarily responsible for public health," wrote I. Pietila and colleagues, University ...