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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
arts and humanities
Class, gender and culture in the experience of menopause. A comparative survey in Tunisia and France
Social Science and Medicine, Volume 75, No. 2, Year 2012
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Description
The experience of menopause can vary strongly from one society to another: frequency of hot flushes, other somatic and psychological symptoms, and changes in family and social relations. Several studies have shown that country of residence, country of birth, ethnicity, and social class all play roles in these variations. But few comparative anthropological studies have analysed the social processes that construct the experience of menopause or considered menopausal women's social and financial autonomy. To study the impact of the social status accorded to menopausal women and their social resources, during 2007 and 2008 we conducted a series of 75 in-depth interviews with women in different sociocultural settings: Tunisian women in Tunisia, Tunisian women in France, and French women in France, all aged from 45 to 70 years. Our methodological approach to the data included content analysis, typology development and socio-demographic analysis. Quite substantial differences appeared, as a function of social class and cultural environment. We identified three principal experiences of menopause. Tunisian working class women, in Tunisia and France, experience menopause with intense symptoms and strong feelings of social degradation. Among Tunisian middle-class women in both countries, menopause was most often accompanied by a severe decline in aesthetic and social value but few symptoms. For most of the French women, menopause involved few symptoms and little change in their social value. The distribution of types of experiences according to social but not geographic or national factors indicates that, in the populations studied here, the differences in symptoms are not biologically determined. Different experiences of menopause are linked to social class and to the degree of male domination. A given level of independence and emancipation allows women an identity beyond their reproductive function and a status unimpaired by menopause. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
Authors & Co-Authors
Delanoe, Daniel
France, Villejuif
Centre de Recherche en Épidémiologie et Santé Des Populations
France, Gif-sur-yvette
Université Paris-saclay
France, Paris
Ined Institut National d' Études Démographiques
France, Bobigny
Laboratoire Educations et Pratiques de Santé Leps
Hajri, Selma
Tunisia, Tunis
National Office for Family and Population
Bachelot, Annie
France, Villejuif
Centre de Recherche en Épidémiologie et Santé Des Populations
France, Gif-sur-yvette
Université Paris-saclay
France, Paris
Ined Institut National d' Études Démographiques
Mahfoudh Draoui, Dorra
Tunisia, Tunis
National Office for Family and Population
Tunisia, Tunis
Université de Tunis
Hassoun, Danielle
France, Villejuif
Centre de Recherche en Épidémiologie et Santé Des Populations
France, Gif-sur-yvette
Université Paris-saclay
France, Paris
Ined Institut National d' Études Démographiques
Marsicano, Elise
France, Villejuif
Centre de Recherche en Épidémiologie et Santé Des Populations
France, Gif-sur-yvette
Université Paris-saclay
France, Paris
Ined Institut National d' Études Démographiques
Ringa, Virginie
France, Villejuif
Centre de Recherche en Épidémiologie et Santé Des Populations
France, Gif-sur-yvette
Université Paris-saclay
France, Paris
Ined Institut National d' Études Démographiques
Statistics
Citations: 79
Authors: 7
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.02.051
ISSN:
02779536
e-ISSN:
18735347
Research Areas
Sexual And Reproductive Health
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Qualitative
Quantitative
Study Locations
Tunisia
Participants Gender
Male
Female