Half the Sky, Half the Care: Gender and Class Intersectionality at the Heart of Global Health Inequities

The essay asks how gender, income, and social circumstances interact to affect the care women receive. I use the idea of intersectionality to explore how these factors overlap and create different barriers for different women.

Growing into the question

I was eleven when I wrote this essay and was beginning to ask more questions about growing up as a girl. My mother has been an important example of independence in my life. As a girl stepping into puberty, learning about women’s health helped me look beyond my own family and explore how money and social expectations could shape other women’s lives. This made me curious about why women with similar health needs can have such different experiences of care.

Following the overlaps

In the essay, I explored period poverty, maternal mortality, gender-based violence, and the under-representation of women in medical research. Looking at these issues together helped me see that gender inequity is rarely caused by only one barrier. Income, race, stigma, and access to information can change both the risks women face and whether their concerns are taken seriously.

Together, these issues brought me back to the same question: not only what happens to women in healthcare, but which women are most likely to be unheard, misdiagnosed, or excluded from medical knowledge.

From evidence to action

In the final part, I consider possible improvements: including more women in medical research, helping healthcare workers recognize bias, improving gender-responsive health systems, and making care more inclusive for people whose experiences are often overlooked.