Gender, generation and geography: findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health on the health and well-being of women at different lifestages

The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health examines the health of over 40,000 Australian women. This paper draws on a range of indicators and data on health, health behaviours, health service use and generational lifestyle issues among women in different geographic locations and argues that there are important spatial differences in women's opportunities for health and well being. Although there are few physical health differences among women living in different parts of Australia, their situations involve inferior access to opportunities and services to those of their urban counterparts. While there have been some important and successful health policy initiatives in recent times there is an urgent need to integrate a thoroughly gendered approach, not only into all analyses of spatial inequality, but also in the analysis of the distribution of and access to services.