Evaluating the Role of Gender Inequalities and Rights Violations in Women's Mental Health

Abstract

This article examines the concept of women's mental health articulated as a human right in international documents and the current public health concern regarding the contribution of depressive and related anxiety disorders--which disproportionately affect women--to the global health burden. There is a growing awareness, supported by health research and accepted in recent international documents such as the Beijing Platform for Action, that gender inequalities and rights violations such as economic dependence, lack of decision-making power, conflicting gender roles, disproportionate domestic responsibilities, and violence are closely linked to mental health problems of women. The article argues that governments and international agencies, as well as women's health and rights advocates, must place more emphasis on women's mental health and its relationship to underlying gender discrimination and rights violations.