Abstract

This study analyzed the intersectionality of the social determinants that shape health among single parents from a gender perspective. Single parent women and men (n=8) were purposively sampled and individually interviewed online from September to October 2022, using inductive thematic analysis. Findings revealed that multidimensional systems of oppression intersect in the context of gendered discrimination and stigma to influence health inequities among single parents. Normal family ideology, sexuality, and masculinity norms constituted the sociostructural context of gender inequalities. The key social determinants of health among single parents were identified: “paid work”, “unpaid care work”, “poverty”, and “bias in health care system”. Paid work and unpaid care work interacted to constrain each other's conditions, perpetuating poverty and intersecting with biased health care system. The results highlight the limitations of pre-existing conceptual frameworks of social determinants of health, which emphasize paid work while invisibilizing the impact of unpaid care work, which is considered to be private, and provide a basis for refining the abstractions of the “Framework for the role of gender as a social determinant of health.” The theoretical implications of a gender perspective on the social determinants of health are discussed, along with policy and practice recommendations for reducing health inequities among single parents.