Mental Health and Gender: Key Issues for the European Pact For Mental Health and Well-being
It is very clear that gender plays an important role in mental health. Gender is important to many of the determinants of mental health, often linked to inequity in society, including gender inequality. There are clear differences between genders in mental health, and mental illness in Europe.
On May 13th the SUPPORT project hosted a meeting to discuss some key issues relating to mental health and gender. This event took place with DG-SANCO, as part of activities to implement the European pact on Mental Health and Well-being, launched in June 2008.
Policy Context
The European Parliament Report on Mental Health[1] published on 28th January 2009 stated that gender-specific aspects should be taken into account when considering the subject of mental health and goes on to note the different patterns in which the mental health problems are manifested in men and women. (A6-0034/2009)
“Whereas gender-specific aspects should be taken into account when considering the subject of mental health, and whereas more women suffer from mental disorders and more men commit suicide, “
A year earlier in January 2008, the Council of Europe[2] (CM/Rec(2008)1) recognised that the principle of equality between women and men is an integral part of human rights and that discrimination on the ground of sex constitutes an impediment to the recognition, enjoyment and exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The Committee of Ministers went on to recommend that:
- “health policies should take social determinants of health into account since socio-economic factors, such as income, employment, education, living and working conditions, occupational hazards and lifestyles are unevenly distributed among the population and result in inequalities which may account for many of the health disparities, including those between men and women.
- Gender should be one of the priority areas of action in health through policies and strategies which address the specific health needs of men and women and that incorporate gender mainstreaming”
Meeting Content
The meeting was introduced by Dr. Piroska Östlin, a public health scientist with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Dr. Östlin was joint coordinator of the Women and Gender Equity Knowledge Network of the WHO Independent Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH). She introduced some of the concepts of gender in relation to health, and described the work of the knowledge network.
The meeting looked broadly at the mental health and well-being of women and men, in particular some of the challenges to mental health for each gender in relation to the five priority areas of the Pact. The European Institute for Women’s Health and Mental Health Europe led presentations discussion women’s mental health. Professor Alan White of Leeds Metropolitan University (UK) gave a keynote on men’s mental health, a contribution expanded by Erick Savoye, Director of the European Men’s Health Forum, who spoke about the effect of the recession on men’s mental health.
The afternoon session looked in detail at the two priority areas being explored in thematic conferences in 2009.
In the session on Children and Education, Professor Ulrike Ravens-Seiberer of Hamburg University discussed the gender dimension of mental health data developed through the HBSC and KIDSCREEN. Jacinta Hastings of Bodywhys, the Easting Disorders Association of Ireland, spoke about the media, eating disorders and the internet.
Dr Ella Arensman of the National Suicide Research Foundation in Ireland gave an overview of gender dimensions of suicide and deliberate self-harm, based on two large scale studies undertaken across Europe.
All the presentations from the day are available below.