TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender Equality and the Global Gender Gap in Life Expectancy
T2 - An Exploratory Analysis of 152 Countries
AU - Mateos , José Tomás
AU - Fernández-Sáez, José
AU - Marcos-Marcos, Jorge
AU - Álvarez-Dardet , Carlos
AU - Bambra, Clare
AU - Popay, Jennie
AU - Baral, Kedar
AU - Musolino, Connie
AU - Baum, Fran
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - When looking at life expectancy (LE) by sex, women live longer than men in all countries. Biological factors alone do not explain gender differences in LE, and examining structural differences may help illuminate other explanatory factors. The aim of this research is to analyse the influence of gender inequality on the gender gap in LE globally. We have carried out a regression analysis between the gender gap in relativised LE and the UN Gender Inequality Index (GII), with a sensitivity analysis conducted for its three dimensions, stratified by the six World Health Organization (WHO) regions. We adjusted the model by taking into consideration gross national income (GNI), democratic status and rural population. The results indicated a positive association for the European region (ß=0.184) and the Americas (ß=0.136) in our adjusted model. Conversely, for the African region, the relations between gender equality and the LE gender gap were found to be negative (ß=-0.125). The findings suggest that in the WHO European region and the Americas, greater gender equality leads to a narrowing of the gender LE gap, while it has a contrary relationship in Africa. We suggest that this could be because only higher scores in the GII between men and women show health benefits.
AB - When looking at life expectancy (LE) by sex, women live longer than men in all countries. Biological factors alone do not explain gender differences in LE, and examining structural differences may help illuminate other explanatory factors. The aim of this research is to analyse the influence of gender inequality on the gender gap in LE globally. We have carried out a regression analysis between the gender gap in relativised LE and the UN Gender Inequality Index (GII), with a sensitivity analysis conducted for its three dimensions, stratified by the six World Health Organization (WHO) regions. We adjusted the model by taking into consideration gross national income (GNI), democratic status and rural population. The results indicated a positive association for the European region (ß=0.184) and the Americas (ß=0.136) in our adjusted model. Conversely, for the African region, the relations between gender equality and the LE gender gap were found to be negative (ß=-0.125). The findings suggest that in the WHO European region and the Americas, greater gender equality leads to a narrowing of the gender LE gap, while it has a contrary relationship in Africa. We suggest that this could be because only higher scores in the GII between men and women show health benefits.
KW - Life Expectancy
KW - Gender Gap
KW - Gender Equality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128062417&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.34172/IJHPM.2020.192
DO - 10.34172/IJHPM.2020.192
M3 - Article
SN - 2322-5939
VL - 11
SP - 740
EP - 746
JO - International Journal of Health Policy and Management
JF - International Journal of Health Policy and Management
IS - 6
ER -
