Cultural Norms, Deviance and Women’s Homelessness (1980–2025): A Feminist-Medical Anthropological Perspective

Background: Women’s homelessness is a complex, gendered phenomenon shaped by cultural norms, patriarchal expectations, and notions of deviance. Historically viewed through moralistic or individualistic lenses, contemporary feminist, intersectional, and medical anthropological perspectives emphasise the structural, social, and health determinants driving women’s loss of housing. These perspectives reveal that women’s homelessness is distinct from men’s, with specific pathways, experiences, and health outcomes. Objective: To critically examine how cultural constructions of “normative” female behaviour versus “deviance” shape homeless women’s experiences and health, across global contexts from 1980–2025, and to explore the implications for policy and practice. Methods: An critical synthesises of peer-reviewed literatur as part of an integrative review using governmental and non-governmental organisation (NGO) reports, and international agency publications from the United Kingdom (UK), Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. An essay approach was used to analyse the data using the grounded in feminist theory, intersectionality, and medical anthropology to interrogate the interplay of gendered norms, structural violence, and health inequities. Findings: Across regions, women’s homelessness is frequently linked to gender-based violence, economic marginalisation, and social exclusion. Cultural norms that position women as caregivers within households render homeless women anomalous and stigmatised, driving “hidden homelessness” and under-reporting. Intersectional factors such as race, age, indigeneity, disability, and sexuality compound vulnerability and affect health outcomes. Homeless women experience high rates of physical illness, reproductive health problems, mental illness, and trauma, often exacerbated by violence and barriers to healthcare. Survival strategies, including transactional sex or substance use, are frequently misinterpreted as deviance rather than adaptive responses to structural constraints. Regional variations reflect differing welfare systems, cultural attitudes, and policy priorities, but stigma, invisibility, and inadequate gender-responsive services are near-universal. Conlusion: Women’s homelessness is both a symptom and a perpetuator of gender inequality, with profound health consequences. Addressing it requires culturally informed, intersectional, and trauma-responsive approaches that integrate housing, healthcare, and violence prevention, while dismantling the stigma that frames homeless women as deviant.