Inequality and women's mental health: an overview

Complex processes of sex bias and sex-role stereotyping continue to detract from the quality of mental health services to both sexes, but particularly to women because of their disadvantaged status. Understanding how such processes can simultaneously create barriers to service access and facilitate inappropriate treatment is essential to ensuring quality mental health services. Ameliorating the problems of women as providers and consumers in the mental health delivery system will require a sophisticated understanding of the nature of those problems and a firm commitment to creative solutions. The ethical mandate to address the institutional structures of inequality extends to all persons who are part of the mental health delivery system.