Abstract
The study aimed to investigate gender inequalities and their health associated factors in world countries. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken using data of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Health Organization (WHO). The main variable in this study was gender inequality index (GII). All countries were stratified by WHO regions. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess the linear correlation between GII and investigated factors by WHO regions. The mean of GII was greater in Africa and lower in Europe region. There was negative significant association between GII and life expectancy at birth and mean years of schooling, prevalence of current tobacco smoking, high blood pressure and overweight and obesity, alcohol consumption rate, and cancer death rate. But there was positive significant association between GII and noncommunicable diseases death rates. In conclusion, gender inequalities, though decreasing over the past decades in world, remain notably greater in Africa and Eastern Mediterranean regions than in Europe. Gender inequality is also an important issue which is related to health factors. Hence, countries will need to focus on public health intervention and equal distribution of economic resources to reduce gender inequality in society.
Highlights
Gender is a range of characteristics, roles, and behaviour patterns
In this cross-sectional study, which was performed in 2013, we used dataset regarding International Human Development Indicators including gender inequality index (GII), life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling and income in all countries worldwide reported by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) [25]
The present study demonstrates the first comprehensive global-based estimates of gender inequality index and its health related factors in world countries including descriptive findings which resulted from UNDP and World Health Organization (WHO) reports [25, 28]
Summary
The term gender distinguishes women from men socially and culturally and relations of power between them [1]. Gender affects most of the known factors related to health, including education, income, occupation, social networks, physical and social environments, and health services. Achieving gender equality is one of the leading millennium development health goals [5]. For example, Canada, efforts to promote gender equality in education and employment have been numerous [6], but many developing countries exhibit considerable gender inequality in education [7], employment [8], and health outcomes [9]. While gender differences in health, assessed in terms of mortality and morbidity, have been reported in most developed countries over recent decades [11], less attention has been paid to the pattern of health care services use
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