Gender Contexts and Women’s Health in India

• In Event: 136 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 12. Health and Health Behaviors

Abstract

Gender norms are characteristics of local contexts germane to women’s health. Extending theory and evidence that gender-biased contexts impact women’s lives across a variety of domains, this study examines whether the district prevalence of gendered practices is associated with poor health for women. National data from the India Human Development Survey-2005 in concert with multilevel modeling is used to assess relationships between gender context characteristics and self-rated health for 23,474 ever-married women ages 25 to 49. Results show that widespread dowry practice in districts is associated with poor health for women. Notably, this relationship remains when controlling for potentially confounding factors such as socioeconomic status, local infrastructural conditions, and state of residence fixed effects. This study’s results suggest that examining the local prevalence of a salient gendered practice can be beneficial for understanding how local culture shapes women's overall health.

Author

• Samuel Stroope