Gender Norms and Hysterectomies

Bertoli, P.;, Grembi, V.; and Slegerova, L.;

Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers from HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York

Abstract: We investigate the role of gender norms in explaining variations in the incidence of hysterectomies (i.e.,removal of uterus) for benign conditions, the second most common surgical procedure after a cesarean section for women. Using data from Italy-a country with a degree of heterogeneous gender norms-we show that the more traditional the perception of the female role is, the higher the incidence of hysterectomies for benign conditions for women in older cohorts . We attribute these results to the fact that the uterus is associated with reproductive function and not with gender identity. To support this interpretation, we show how gender norms are negatively correlated with the incidence of both mastectomies (i.e., removal of the breast) and prostatectomies for benign conditions (i.e., removal of the prostate) for men. To test the role of gender norms in explaining some of these avoidable procedures, we exploit the impact of the introduction of automatic constraints on healthcare expenditures triggered by the adoption of so-called regional repayment plans. Using a staggered difference-in-differences approach, we show that the introduction of a repayment plan reduced the incidence of hysterectomies for benign conditions by 4-8%, depending on the age group, but less so in regions with more conservative gender norms.

Keywords: hysterectomy; gender norms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I11 I18 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-gen and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.york.ac.uk/media/economics/documents/h ... papers/2025/2509.pdf Main text (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:yor:hectdg:25/09

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers from HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York HEDG/HERC, Department of Economics and Related Studies, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jane Rawlings ().