Examination_of_the_Ways_Inequalities_Are_Made_and_Remade_South_Wales

Introduction The objective of this work is to examine the way that inequalities are made and remade in South Wales. As this study will relate, there are inherent inequalities in South Wales both historically and traditionally. The work of Winckler (2009) entitled “Equality Issues in Wales: A Research Review” that statistics on equality in Wales is based on measurements relating to race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, and religion. The report states that there are 10,000 refugees and 2,500 asylum seeker in Wales, in addition to 2,000 Gypsy Travelers. Men are outnumbered by women. 29 percent of the population is 60 years old or older. An approximate 27 percent of the adult population is disabled. I. Poverty and Social Exclusion Winckler states that sufficient evidence exists to make the conclusion that ethnic minority groups along with individuals who are disabled and children and young people as well as older people “experience poverty and social exclusion to a greater extent than other groups.” (2009) The report additionally states findings that an approximate “26 percent of children and 18 per cent of pensioners live in income-poor households, with a smaller but still substantial proportion of both groups also lacking ‘necessities’.” (Winckler, 2009) The report states that those likely to have no savings includes “Older people, households with dependent children and some female age groups…” (Winckler, 2009) Those most likely to have access to credit and to be able to use credit includes younger people and men. (Winckler, 2009) The report states that a poverty of fuel “…is concentrated amongst vulnerable groups which include households with an older person, child, or disabled person.” (Winckler, 2009) Older people were found to be much less likely than other age groups to “have access to digital technologies or to use the internet. “ (Winckler, 2009) II. Inequalities in Access to Transport Stated as well is that disabled individuals “…face particular difficulties accessing services whilst the issues for young people are time and transport.” (Winckler, 2009) Ethnic minorities are reported along with women, disabled people, older people, children and young people to be reliant on public transport as they generally lack access to a private car. Buses are hard to utilize for women with children, older adults, and individuals who are disabled. III. Health Inequalities In a separate work, entitled “Measuring Health Inequalities in New South Wales” Moore and Jorm (nd) report that inequality in health in South Wales is found to be related to “demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic factors.” (p.1) The report states that women “have a longer life expectancy than men, although this difference is decreasing. Between 1965 and 1998, life expectancy at birth steadily increased from67.1 to 76.5 years for males and from 73.7 to 81.9 years for females.” (Moore and Jorm, 2009) Moore and Jorm additionally report on health inequalities by residence and state that measurement of health inequalities associated with geographic remoteness ‘has been facilitated by the development of the Accessibility-Remoteness Index for Australia (ARIA)” on the basis of road distance traveled from major service centers.” ( ) Stated as examples of inequalities demonstrated by analysis by ARIA include the following: (1) In 1994-1998 death rates from ischemic heart disease increased progressively with increasing remoteness. By contrast, hospital separation rates for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) showed a less consistent pattern, with little difference in rates for those living in remote and highly accessible areas, and slightly lower rates for those living in areas with immediate levels of services access. (2) In the 1997 and 1998 NSW Health Surveys, a higher percentage of people living in remote (60.0 per cent) and very remote (69.6 per cent) areas of NSW reported one or more alcohol drinking behaviors that are associated with an increased risk to health compared with those living in highly accessible areas (49.0 per cent). (3) In the same surveys, a higher percentage of people living in remote (20.8 per cent) and very remote (41.3 percent) areas of NSW reported having difficulties getting the health care they needed compared with those living in highly accessible areas (8.2 percent). (Moore and Jorm, 2009) III. Socioeconomic Differentials Impact on Health Moore and Jorm additionally state that socioeconomic differentials in health “can be measured using data on individuals and relating it to a measure of that individual’s health.” (nd) For example between the years of 1994 and 1998, it is reported that the likelihood of a teenager giving birth “was strongly associated with socioeconomic disadvantage. It is reported that teenage mothers “represented 1.8 percent of all women giving birth in the least disadvantaged quintile compared with 6.5 percent of all women giving birth in the most disadvantaged quintile.” (Moore and Jorm, nd) Additionally reported is that during the 1997 and 1998 NWS Health Surveys that the current smoking rates reported were found to increase “with increasing levels of socioeconomic disadvantage. Females and males respondents who were not able to work or who were unemployed or only part-time employed were found to have reported much higher rates of smoking currently than was reported by the state average of those who smoke. (Moore and Jorm, nd, paraphrased) Psychological distress was also found to be linked to socioeconomic disadvantage in the surveys with the reported rates of psychological distress reported lowest among men and women who had been educated at the university or who possessed other tertiary qualifications. Rates of smoking were reported highest among individuals who had not graduated high school or completed their GED. (Moore and Jorm, nd, paraphrased) Summary and Conclusion It is clear that the socioeconomic, geographic, and demographic factors are those which not only serve to make inequalities in South Wales, but these factors also are that which repetitiously remakes inequalities as teens in socioeconomic distress give birth to children who will experience the same future in most cases. Lack of transport, lack of access to technology, lack of the very basics such as food, fuel, education, and health care all serve to bring about a repeat in the conditions for each generation who follows in the areas, socioeconomic brackets and demographic groups who are presently experiencing the inequalities stated in this study. It is clear that the cycle of poverty, of lack of access to health care, and the demographic-based inequalities must be somehow broken in order to change the status quo for future generations if they are to experience other than the inequalities, which are structural and systemic in nature in South Wales.