Embodying Inequality: Three Papers on the Role of Gender and Discrimination in the Lives of Women
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Social Work College of Social Work 2020 EMBODYING INEQUALITY: THREE PAPERS ON THE ROLE OF GENDER AND DISCRIMINATION IN THE LIVES OF WOMEN Stefana I. Moldovan University of Kentucky, [email protected] Author ORCID Identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8267-4946 Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2020.334 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Moldovan, Stefana I., "EMBODYING INEQUALITY: THREE PAPERS ON THE ROLE OF GENDER AND DISCRIMINATION IN THE LIVES OF WOMEN" (2020). Theses and Dissertations--Social Work. 30. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/csw_etds/30 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Social Work at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Social Work by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. 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I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Stefana I. Moldovan, Student Dr. Kay Hoffman, Major Professor Dr. Natalie Pope, Director of Graduate Studies EMBODYING INEQUALITY: THREE PAPERS ON THE ROLE OF GENDER AND DISCRIMINATION IN THE LIVES OF WOMEN ___________________________________ DISSERTATION ___________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky By Stefana I. Moldovan, MSW Lexington, Kentucky Co-Directors: Dr. Kay Hoffman, Professor of Social Work and Dr. David D. Royse, Professor of Social Work Lexington, Kentucky 2020 Copyright ©Stefana I Moldovan 2020 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8267-4946 ABSTRACT EMBODYING INEQUALITY: THREE PAPERS ON THE ROLE OF GENDER AND DISCRIMINATION IN THE LIVES OF WOMEN Women experience different forms of discrimination throughout their lives such as unfair treatment in interpersonal interactions in the public spheres and in the private sphere, as prescribed by societal gender roles, women can also experience inequality and discrimination as a disproportionate share of household work and caregiving, limited participation in decision making, unequal access and share of financial resources and leisure, and as well as in cases, of emotional, and physical, or sexual abuse. Limited research explored the potential joint effect of these forms of discrimination. The questions explored in this dissertation were: (1) How does gendered intra-household inequality, experienced as a constraint to women’s agency, interact with post-migration factors like interpersonal discrimination and how does the combination of factors affect the mental health of immigrant women? (2) how does gendered intra-household inequality and discrimination interact to affect mental health among women and men in the U.S? And lastly, how do major stressful and traumatic events and discrimination interact to affect mental health among women and men in the U.S? In the first paper, I analysed data from the National Latino and Asian American Study and I found that first- and second- generation immigrant and refugee women experience intra-household inequality such as having no say in final decisions, experiencing excessive demands from their spouse and moderate or severe violence and that both discrimination and intrahousehold inequality made a separate and a significant contribution to increasing women’s risk for meeting criteria for depression and PTSD. The second paper had two small substudies. In the first I analyzed data from the 2011-2014 MIDUS Refresher study, and I examined the relationship between perceived everyday discrimination, intrahousehold inequality, and depression and anxiety among women and men. I found that everyday discrimination was associated with depression and perceived role strain with both health outcomes. In the second substudy I analyzed data from the 2012-2016 MIDUS Refresher Biomarker to explore a potential pathway between role strain and depression and anxiety symptoms and whether these processes were contingent upon the perception of discrimination in social interactions. I found that perceived stress mediated the relationship between role strain and depression and anxiety and that discrimination moderated that relationship such that in the presence of perceived discrimination in interpersonal interactions, intrahousehold inequality was associated with more psychological distress and more severe symptoms of depression and anxiety. In the last paper, I used data from the 2012-2016 MIDUS Refresher Biomarker and I examined the association between major stressful and traumatic events, perceived discrimination and perceived multiple reasons for discrimination and anxiety and depression among women and men. I first examined a potential pathway between adverse experiences and depression and anxiety symptoms, and I found that perceived stress mediates these relationships. In the second part, I tested the moderating role of discrimination and of perceived multiple forms of discrimination and found that individuals who reported a greater number of major stressful events reported higher levels of stress if they perceive higher levels of discrimination and, further, that higher levels of stress predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms if they perceive higher levels of discrimination. Perception of multiple forms of discrimination (two forms or there or more) was also associated with higher levels of perceived stress. The concluding chapter presents the main findings of these studies and recommendations for social work practice and future research. KEYWORDS: gender, discrimination, intra-household inequality, trauma, intersectionality, health inequalities Stefana I. Moldovan April 23, 2020 EMBODYING INEQUALITY: THREE PAPERS ON THE ROLE OF GENDER AND DISCRIMINATION IN THE LIVES OF WOMEN By Stefana I. Moldovan Dr. Kay Hoffman Co-Director of Dissertation Dr. David Royse Co-Director of Dissertation Dr. Natalie Pope Director of Graduate Studies April 23, 2020 Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to my chair Dr. Hoffman for believing in me. She is an inspiration to women and social workers. I am grateful to Bob Walker for inspiring me and to Dr. Royse who helped me to never give up. These three educators were the three most important educators in my journey, and they taught me the most beautiful lesson. The lesson is that good educators must have a lot a qualities but none of those matter unless they are accompanied by kindness. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………...iii List of Tables ……………………………………………………………………………vii List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………... ix Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1 Purpose of the study ........................................................................................................ 1 Background of the study ................................................................................................. 3 Overall health of Latino and Asian immigrant women ................................................... 5 Gendered inequality and immigrant women ................................................................... 9 Placing intra-household gender inequality in the global context .................................. 13 Perceived interpersonal discrimination and intra household gender inequality ............ 19 Eco-social theory: this study’s theoretical underpinning .............................................. 20 Rationale for the papers included in this dissertation ................................................... 22 The eco-social theory and gender analysis in the papers for this dissertation .............. 23 References ..................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 2- Paper 1 “ A long journey of inequality across borders: understanding the role of intra-household