Jason Beckfield1, Katherine Ann Morris1, Clare Bambra2. 1. 1 Department of Sociology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. 2. 2 Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Abstract
AIMS: In this study we aimed to analyze gender health equity as a case of how social policy contributes to population health. We analyzed three sets of social-investment policies implemented in Europe and previously hypothesized to reduce gender inequity in labor market outcomes: childcare; active labor market programs; and long-term care. METHODS: We use 12 indicators of social-investment policies from the OECD Social Expenditure Database, the OECD Family Database, and the Social Policy Indicators' Parental Leave Benefit Dataset. We draw outcome data from the 2015 Global Burden of Disease for years lived with disability and all-cause mortality among men and women ages 25-54 for 18 European nations over the 1995-2010 period. We estimate 12 linear regression models each for mortality and morbidity (i.e. years lived with disability), one per social-investment indicator. All models use country fixed-effects and cluster-robust standard errors. RESULTS: For years lived with disability, women benefit more from social investment for most indicators. The only exception is the percentage of young children in publicly funded childcare or schooling, which equally benefits men. For all-cause mortality, men benefit more or equally from social investment for most indicators, while women benefit more from government spending on direct job creation through civil employment. CONCLUSIONS: Social policy contributes to the distribution of population health. Social-investment advocates argue such policies in particular enhance economic gender equity. Our results show that these polices have ambiguous effects on gender health equity and even differential improvements among men for some outcomes.
AIMS: In this study we aimed to analyze gender health equity as a case of how social policy contributes to population health. We analyzed three sets of social-investment policies implemented in Europe and previously hypothesized to reduce gender inequity in labor market outcomes: childcare; active labor market programs; and long-term care. METHODS: We use 12 indicators of social-investment policies from the OECD Social Expenditure Database, the OECD Family Database, and the Social Policy Indicators' Parental Leave Benefit Dataset. We draw outcome data from the 2015 Global Burden of Disease for years lived with disability and all-cause mortality among men and women ages 25-54 for 18 European nations over the 1995-2010 period. We estimate 12 linear regression models each for mortality and morbidity (i.e. years lived with disability), one per social-investment indicator. All models use country fixed-effects and cluster-robust standard errors. RESULTS: For years lived with disability, women benefit more from social investment for most indicators. The only exception is the percentage of young children in publicly funded childcare or schooling, which equally benefits men. For all-cause mortality, men benefit more or equally from social investment for most indicators, while women benefit more from government spending on direct job creation through civil employment. CONCLUSIONS: Social policy contributes to the distribution of population health. Social-investment advocates argue such policies in particular enhance economic gender equity. Our results show that these polices have ambiguous effects on gender health equity and even differential improvements among men for some outcomes.
Entities:
Keywords:
gender equity; health inequality; social investment; social policy
Authors: José Tomás Mateos; José Fernández-Sáez; Jorge Marcos-Marcos; Carlos Álvarez-Dardet; Clare Bambra; Jennie Popay; Kedar Baral; Connie Musolino; Fran Baum Journal: Int J Health Policy Manag Date: 2022-06-01