Women and Health Inequalities in Contemporary Societies

The monograph Women and Health Inequalities in Contemporary Societies is an interdisciplinary study of gender-based health disparities, examined simultaneously as a bioethical, socio-cultural, and political issue. Alexandra Traykova proceeds from the understanding that formal legal equality between men and women is not in itself a sufficient condition to overcome historically accumulated forms of systemic and structural inequality. These continue to impact not only women's full participation in society, but also their quality of life, health outcomes, and access to quality medical care.

The study employs a culturally sensitive, intersectional, and analytical approach, tracing the interplay between gender, social status, societal expectations, and power dynamics in illness, suffering, diagnosis, and treatment. A central theme is the normalization of female suffering within medical and public culture, which contributes to the social invisibility of numerous health issues affecting women. The author defines the "normalization of female suffering" as the widespread attitude whereby women's physical pain, chronic discomfort, and even psycho-emotional overload are frequently presented as a natural and therefore inevitable part of female life.