Cynthia Enloe draws attention to how mobilizing a nation at war requires drawing on not just the notion of the heroic masculine protector, but also the vulnerable women and children who must be protected. To draw attention to the way in which this binary (protector/protected) has functioned, she wrote “women and children” as “womenandchildren.” Speaking very generally, women and children, and perhaps especially womeandchildren, are sympathetic characters in society in a way that men simply are not. Likewise, women and children often seem more deserving of assistance and charity than men, who are expected to buck up and take care of themselves.
Stephen W. found himself confronted with this solicitation when making an internet purchase:
Stephen wondered why he would want to “wipe out heart disease in women,” as opposed to “wipe out heart disease”?
Why indeed?
Perhaps the appeal to save a group we often understand to be vulnerable and deserving of assistance makes (or is believed to make) this a more effective solicitation.
NEW (Jan ’10)! Anna K.-B. sent in another instance of this women-need-extra-care-and-protection thing. In this case, it’s a walk to end women’s cancers only:
Comments 8
Trish — February 24, 2009
Heart disease in women often has different symptoms and causes than heart disease in men, and therefore it is more often overlooked in women. It is appropriate to draw special attention to the cause of heart disease in women for this reason.
pcwhite — February 24, 2009
yes, I agree with Trish. Heart disease in women deserves some special attention because heart disease is often framed as a men's health concern; as such, women with heart disease don't receive the medical attention they need and are at a greater risk of death (I believe; it's been a while since I saw the sources). While the 'womenandchildren' phenomenon most probably contributes to the idea that men should buck up and take care of themselves, in many cases men really do have more agency than women to help themselves, because their gender affords them more power in society. That's just to say, I would hesitate before issuing the "what about the men!" cry.
Heather — February 24, 2009
For 50 years, "heart healthfor women" meant "Ladies, here is how to take care of your husband with heart disease/protect him from getting heart disease". Public health and medicine completely ignored that women get heart disease too, and even now, there are serious disparities in the treatments offered to men vs women by doctors, the care men vs women are able to recieve from their families, and even how interventions are tested!
February is American Heart Health Month, and one of the weeks (I forget which) is women's heart week. Although disparities also exist between groups of men , women of all groups are less likely than their male peers to receive heart health messages and services. I think in this case whoever is requesting the donations is probably aware of the serious disparities facing women in heart disease detection and treatment.
Talleyrand — February 25, 2009
This process of constructing victims as women and children is analyzed, in general and in the context of the Yugoslavian war, by Charli Carpenter at UMass-Amherst in her book 'Innocent Women and Children: Gender, Norms and the Protection of Civilians'.
mimi — March 3, 2009
Generally speaking, men are not an attractive group to use as an example when you're creating a fundraising campaign. The public believes that men should and are able to look after themselves and don't deserve sympathy. The easiest campaigns to create (in the UK, don't know about the US) are ones for children's charities, animal charities (fluffy puppies kittens, or "exotic" animals), rainforests, etc. Children with cancer or other illnesses is an easy one, men with any kind of disease is not unless you can target it specifically to try to reach potential male donors and spin the campaign to have a "it could be you and it's manly to donate" theme. So the Testicular cancer charity had campaigns that made jokes about "balls" and also had a scary "it could be you" element to them.
Trying to create a campaign to get people to give money to combat heart disease in men would be very difficult. Doable, but difficult.
Who Cleans the House of a Cancer Patient? » Sociological Images — January 9, 2010
[...] See also our post on how health-related activism is sometimes for women only. [...]
Jojo — February 1, 2010
Men cannot get cervical or ovarian cancer. It is okay to have a walk to focus funds on these cancers without being "protective" of women.