Gendered worlds of pain: Women, marginalization and chronic pain

Abstract

The importance of gender is undertheorized in chronic pain research, meaning extant research cannot sufficiently shed light on how chronic pain experience and treatment are connected to institutions and societal structures. Much literature on gender and pain is not critical in orientation, making it difficult to translate data into recommendations for improved treatment and care. Our study takes a critical approach informed by social theory to understand chronic pain among women who experience socioeconomic marginalization. Drawing on a gender-based sub-analysis of interview data collected in Canada as part of an Institutional Ethnography of chronic pain among people who are socioeconomically marginalized, from women’s narratives we identified four themes that speak to gender, chronic pain, and marginalization. These are: 1) gendered minimization of women’s health concerns 2) managing inter-generational poverty 3) living with violence and trauma; and 4) gendered organization of family care. Together, these themes highlight how women’s experiences of chronic pain and marginalization amplify gendered vulnerabilities in healthcare, social services, and society in general. Our findings depict a deeply gendered experience of chronic pain that is inseparable from the daily struggle of managing one’s life with pain with heavy responsibilities, the baggage of past trauma, and responsibility for others with few resources. We emphasize the importance of chronic pain care, and health and social services that are both gender and trauma informed. PerspectiveThis article draws on an Institutional Ethnography (a holistic qualitative methodology) of chronic pain and socioeconomic marginalization to demonstrate the importance of chronic pain care, and health and social services that are both gender and trauma informed.