Gender inequalities in poor self-rated health: Cross-national comparison of South Korea and Japan

Shuko Takahashi, Soong-nang Jang, Shiho Kino and Ichiro Kawachi

Social Science & Medicine, 2020, vol. 252, issue C

Abstract: Japan and South Korea represent “outliers” among rich nations with regard to having achieved high life expectancy but also ranking near the bottom on United Nations indices of gender equality. In the present study, we compared gender inequalities in self-rated health (SRH) across the life course captured in nationally representative surveys from South Korea and Japan. Our comparative analysis focused on the following questions, (1) Do Japan and South Korea exhibit similar patterns of gender inequalities in health as found in western settings (e.g. the “gender paradox” whereby women enjoy longer life expectancy, but worseself-rated health compared to men)? (2) Can gender differences in educational attainment and income account for gender differences in health in Japan & Korea? (3) Do gender inequalities in self-rated health differ over the life-course in Japan compared to South Korea?

Keywords: Self-rated health; International comparison; South Korea; Japan; Gender gap; Gender inequality; Social determinants; Gender paradox (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:252:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620301386

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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112919

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