Abstract
Populations become increasingly feminized with age. Since older women are more vulnerable to poverty, they may find it more difficult than men to access health care. This study examines factors that may constrain older persons in Southeast Asia from meeting their health-care needs when sick. Our analysis of household survey data from Cambodia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam shows that women are more likely to have reported sickness or injury than men, a difference that is meaningful and statistically significant. While women in Cambodia and the Philippines are more likely to seek treatment than men, the gender difference is reversed in Viet Nam where the stigma and discrimination associated with some diseases may more strongly deter women. The probability of seeking treatment rises with age more sharply for women than men in all countries. However, for the subsample of elders, the gender difference is not significant.
Highlights
In what has been called the feminization of later life, the population share has become increasingly female among older age groups in most countries, with women on average having higher life expectancies than men due to a combination of biological, social, and behavioral reasons (Kinsella 2000)
Cross-disciplinary research has contributed to a better understanding of why elderly women have experienced relatively greater difficulties in meeting their health-care needs, how the caring labor of adult children plays an important role in meeting the health needs of elderly adults, and why poverty rates among older persons tend to be higher for women
Using a nationally representative sample of adults for Cambodia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam, we use the determinants of illness and health-seeking behaviors and how they differ by gender and age, and we examine how the gender gap in health-seeking behavior changes as the population ages
Summary
In what has been called the feminization of later life, the population share has become increasingly female among older age groups in most countries, with women on average having higher life expectancies than men due to a combination of biological, social, and behavioral reasons (Kinsella 2000). One potential explanation is that women are more likely than men to report health problems and to have worse self-reported health status (Atchessi et al 2018; Madyaningrum, Chuang, and Chuang 2018; Case and Paxson 2005). Another possibility is that women may be less able to receive informal care within the home from a spouse or adult child, becoming more dependent on sources of care outside the home. The research on health-care seeking among older women and men has tended to focus more on higher-income countries with well-established nationally representative surveys such as the Harmonized Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and other HRS-Family Studies that have detailed
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