Gender-health disparities: exploring the counterbalancing mechanisms of labor disadvantage and health behaviors in rural China

The health disparity associated with gender has raised attention on the rampant health inequity issues in China.This gender-health disparity is further complicated by the contrasting evidence in several substantive demographic phenomena such as the female survival paradox and female morbidity paradox.The current study pro-poses a theoretical model to reveal the counterbalancing mechanisms contributing to gender-health disparity in China.Specifically,health behaviors and labor market disadvantages are two sets of counterbalancing factors that,when considered alto-gether,reveal the true extent of gender-health disparity.Using a 2020 survey in the poverty counties in two provinces of China,the current study investigates the coun-terbalancing mechanisms in gender-health disparity through mediation and suppres-sion effects.With painful feeling and the number of chronic illnesses as depend-ent variables,this study showed that health behaviors and labor disadvantages are indeed counterbalancing mechanisms.The gender disparity in pain/chronic ill-nesses disappeared after labor disadvantages were controlled for,but reemerged in greater magnitude after health behaviors were controlled were.For chronic illnesses,the previously non-existent gender disparity emerged after health behaviors were controlled for.Were it not for women’s salubrious health behaviors,they would suf-fer worse pain and chronic illnesses than men’s.This study informs the literature of the hidden counterbalancing mechanisms in gender-health disparity,and women’s inferior position in formal and informal labor domains blocks the goal of eradicating health inequity in China.