Background: This article researches gender inequality in health based on subjective assessments of health, theaccessibility of health care services and trust in the health care system between different social categories of womenin Slovenia.
Methods: The study is based on the Slovenian Public Opinion survey (ISSP Health Module) carried out in 2011 onrepresentative samples of the adult Slovenian population. In the data, we investigated the gender differences anddifference between different socio-economic categories within the female sub-sample in self-assessed health, andsome other related topics such as: trust in doctors, trust in health care system, access to health care services andattitude to the health care policy in Slovenia.
Results: The data shows significant inequalities in self-assessed health between different social strata. Self-assessedhealth is significantly lower among women at the bottom of the educational and income scale. The data also revealsstrong support for the preservation of the available public health.
Conclusion: Neoliberal economic reforms (of health care) affect vulnerable social categories the most, and womenare particularly exposed. The use of women’s unpaid work in the family belongs among the basic (neo)liberal savingstrategies. These want to take more care and health work within families from the shoulders of the state and placeit onto the shoulders of family members, which mainly means women. In these circumstances, it is understandablethat women subjectively assess their health as being worse than men’s. Moreover, conditions are being establishedthat de facto could lead to worse health in the female population in Slovenia.
