Gender Norms, Partnership Status, and Health Outcomes

• In Event: Sociology of Sex and Gender Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 4. Embodiment, Medicine, and Health

Abstract

While gender equality has made significant progress, whether it can reduce gendered health disparities remains unknown. Using data from the World Values Survey, I examine how societal gender norms and individual attitudes are jointly associated with health outcomes, and how these relationships vary by gender and partnership status. The results suggest that egalitarian societal gender norms promote health outcomes among married and cohabiting women. While divorced women report lower levels of control and never-married women report poorer health. By contrast, men’s health outcomes depend on gender norms among other men rather than those of the broader society. At the individual level, egalitarian attitudes are not associated with self-rated health but do predict a stronger sense of control among women, regardless of partnership status. However, married men who hold more egalitarian attitudes than their peers report worse health, while cohabiting and never-married men report better health and stronger sense of control. My study suggests that gender progress may not benefit everyone but instead depends on individuals’ gender and partnership status.

Author

• Yiran Zhang, University of Maryland-College Park