The Salience of Gender 79 4 Table 1. Selected participants characteristics Characteristic Overall (N=31) Men (n=18) Women (n=13) Mean (SD) Age in years 65.5 (7.0) 67.6 (4.6) 62.5 (8.8) Mean (SD) Clinical disease duration in years 5.1 (3.6) 3.5 (2.0) 7.3 (4.1) n (%) Education level None 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) Primary education 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) Secondary - prevocational 2 (6.5) 2 (11) 0 (0) Secondary – higher 2 (6.5) 1 (5.6) 1 (7.7) Intermediate – vocational 6 (19) 3 (17) 3 (23) Higher – professional 21 (68) 12 (67) 9 (69) n (%) Ethnicity Dutch 31 (100) 18 (100) 13 (100) Interviewee: “ No, I don’t believe so. I don’t have any comparison material. I’m just thinking out loud, but I can’t judge whether I would experience it differently if I were a woman, but maybe that’s not what you mean.” [Interview 19. Man] “Interviewer: “Are there aspects that in your experience are specific to you as a woman living with Parkinson’s? Interviewee: Compared to a man, you mean?” [Interview 21, Woman] Participants diverted their answers towards aspects of their illness experiences that they considered more impactful than gender. Particularly some women felt their illness experiences were more influenced by behavioural coping aspects related to taking agency [Interview 20, Woman] [Interview 23, Woman] [Interview 14, Woman], and being literate about the disease rather than by their gender identity or gender related aspects. “No, not really. Men can take care of themselves just as well as I do. But it depends a bit on whether you want it. I did notice in the early years [of living with Parkinson’s], especially when a man had Parkinson’s and I had such a meeting of fellow [Parkinsonians], the woman came with a handful of pills and made sure that he got pills, the pills he needed at that moment and on time. I think you should do that yourself whether you are a man or a woman because there were also women who said: which pills do you take? I have white ones. Yes, but what are they called? They didn’t know that, but they did know the colour. Then I think ‘how stupid’. You should know what you’re taking. I have always loudly proclaimed: Know of your own ailment. Know about your illness.” [Interview 20, Woman]
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