Healthcare needs, public policies and gender: the perspective of professional practices

This paper examines the relationship between public policies and professional practices with respect to healthcare needs. Taking a theoretical-conceptual approach, practices are defined as acts that are permeated by technical-scientific and socio-historical determinants for the social production of work, and the possibilities for cultural, ethical and political changes were analyzed in order to take critical action regarding gender inequalities. With comprehensive healthcare for men as the reference point, the relevance of a distinction between male and female needs, as partial and not necessarily convergent realities in (re) producing these inequalities, is examined. Likewise, professional practices are examined as partial and distinct realities of policies that establish non-immediate relationships. It is considered that the following are symbolic and practical obstacles to change: the reduction of needs through biomedical normalization; the culture of self-employment and approaches that individualize needs; the traditional gender-based culture that conserves unequal practices for men and women; and the lack of registration of rights as part of professional action. This requires proposals specifically geared to healthcare practices and male needs, in order to achieve greater convergence with policy reforms.