August 2021 Newsletter | In Honor of National Women’s Equality Day (August 26, 2021)
At City Center Psychotherapy, we care a lot about your mental health, no matter who you are. We believe that everyone deserves access to the mental healthcare they need no matter their race, class, age, gender, or sexual orientation. In some of our past newsletter features, we’ve looked at specific identity groups’ experiences around mental healthcare, including mothers, LGBTQ individuals, and minority race and ethinic group members. Since 2021’s National Women’s Equality Day is August 26, this month we’re taking a look at women’s equality when it comes to healthcare.
A recent study (Yu 2018) looking at global health disparities found a significant correlation between inequality due to gender and gender disparities in mental health, specifically depressive disorders. A paper published by the World Health Organization (2013) states that “highly significant gender differences exist for depression, anxiety and somatic complaints that affect more than 20% of the population in established economies. Depression accounts for the largest proportion of the burden associated with all the mental and neurological disorders…” meaning that women are carrying the larger share of the world’s mental health burden.
In the United States, racial and ethnic disparities in receipt of mental healthcare—where non-white individuals have less access to mental health services than whites (McGuire & Miranda 2018) despite the fact that they experience additional stressors due to race (Williams 2019)—means that women of color face even steeper challenges than their white counterparts in receiving necessary care.
As we looked at previously, LGBTQ individuals also face a particular set of stressors and barriers to healthcare (The Trevor Project 2019). For members of multiple-minority groups (Cyrus 2017), the various stressors linked to each aspect of their identities are bricks being added to a wall blocking the road to care—any care, let alone care that takes into consideration the specific needs of a specific individual based on her unique identity.
According to the 2020 census, 80 percent of all single-parent homes in the US were headed by mothers (Single Mother Guide 2021). During the pandemic, along with women in two-parent households, those mothers had to manage the increase in caregiving responsibilities due to school and daycare closures along with the regular demands of earning an income, or leave the workforce and potentially put their families at financial risk (Grose 2021). These women are certainly in need of support and care, including mental healthcare, but the barriers to accessing care are enormous. And while the pandemic certainly made the situation worse, access to childcare was already a huge issue before 2020 (Schochet 2019).
While some resources exist to help on an individual basis, disparities of such a large volume require systemic and cultural changes. Universal childcare and mental health services, better support systems for when emergencies (such as pandemics) occur, and recognizing that the need for supportive mental healthcare is not a bad thing but simply a part of most individuals’ lives at one point or another, and that everyone deserves a chance to feel better.
Below is a list of resources for individual care as well as policy initiatives that have been put forth but not yet enacted. This year on Women’s Equality Day, consider taking action by reaching out to your representatives to urge them to support these resolutions. Links are provided below to assist you in determining who your representatives are and how to find their contact information.
Individual Resources
Office on Women’s Health (National)
National Institute of Mental Health (National)
Women’s Mental Health Consortium (NYC)
Legislation
H.R. 2886 - Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act: To establish universal child care and early learning programs.
H.R. 137 - Mental Health Access and Gun Violence Prevention Act of 2021: This bill authorizes FY2022 appropriations for the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Social Security Administration to increase access to mental health care treatment and services.
H.R.4576 - To allow Americans to receive paid leave time to process and address their own health needs and the health needs of their partners during the period following a pregnancy loss, an unsuccessful round of intrauterine insemination or of an assisted reproductive technology procedure, a failed adoption arrangement, a failed surrogacy arrangement, or a diagnosis or event that impacts pregnancy or fertility, to support related research and education, and for other purposes.
S.R. 87 - A resolution to support mothers, especially mothers of color, in any COVID-19 relief policies including paid leave, child care and benefits, expanded unemployment insurance, and access to mental healthcare
How to find/contact your congressperson
How to find/contact your senator
References
Cyrus, K. (2017) Multiple minorities as multiply marginalized: Applying the minority stress
theory to LGBTQ people of color, Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 21(3), 194-202.
Grose, J. (2021). America’s mothers are in crisis. New York Times.
McGuire, T. G., & Miranda, J. (2008). New evidence regarding racial and ethnic disparities in
mental health: Policy implications. Health Affairs 27(2), 393–403.
The Trevor Project. (2020). Breaking Barriers to Quality Mental Health Care for LGBTQ Youth.
Single Mother Statistics. (2021). Single Mother Guide.
Schochet, L. (2019). The Child Care Crisis Is Keeping Women Out of the Workforce. Center for American Progress.
Williams D. R. (2018). Stress and the mental health of populations of color: Advancing our understanding of race-related stressors. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 59(4), 466–485.
World Health Organization. (2013). Gender Disparities in Mental Health. Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence.
Yu, S. (2018). Uncovering the hidden impacts of inequality on mental health: A global study. Translational Psychiatry, 8(98).