Women and suicidal behaviour

Abstract

Women have higher rates of suicidal ideation and behaviour and lower rates of suicide mortality than men. This is a dominant but not a universal pattern, across and within countries. There is also cultural heterogeneity in beliefs and attitudes about women’s suicidal behaviour. For example, in some high-income countries, suicide is considered a masculine act. Furthermore, explanations of suicidal behaviour vary by culture. In high-income countries female suicidal behaviour is typically viewed as an individual problem, and a sign of mental illness. By contrast, in low- and middle-income countries, that is, where rates of female suicidality are most elevated, female suicidal behaviour is primarily viewed as a response to arduous circumstances. Evidence from a diversity of countries highlights cultural, social, and economic factors in women’s suicidality—with abuse in close relationships consistently showing a strong association with suicidality. In some countries suicide is women’s culturally scripted way to escape from the social and economic oppression, and the abuse they experience in their families and communities—in violation of their human rights. Women’s suicide rates are lower in countries with more egalitarian gender norms. Given the persistence, in high-income-countries, of individual-focused theories, despite the global evidence on the role of contexts in women’s suicidality, innovation in theory, research, and the prevention of women’s suicidality requires sustained attention to social, economic, and cultural factors, and adopting a human rights perspective.