Maintaining respectability and responsibility: gendered labor patterns among women injection drug users.
Gender-related factors and the social and economic conditions that impact the lives and health of women injection drug users (IDUs) in Chicago are described. Although study participants are highly imaginative and resourceful in terms of income-generating self-sufficiency, they engage in a variety of behaviors that put them at risk of contracting infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis B and C viruses. We point out that labor inequalities experienced by women IDUs, together with the gender ideologies that support those inequalities, provide reduced opportunities to practice harm reduction and other health care options.
Hofman
Nila Ginger
NG
Department of International Studies, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois 60614-3298, USA. nhofman1@depaul.edu
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002641:Chicago; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005783:Gender Identity; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008875:Middle Aged; D016485:Needle Sharing / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012307:Risk Factors; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012941:Social Responsibility; D012945:Social Values; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014504:Urban Health; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*; D014937:Work / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*