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The health impacts of women's low control in their living environment: A theory-based systematic review of observational studies in societies with profound gender discrimination.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Pennington, Andy 
Orton, Lois 
Nayak, Shilpa 
Ring, Adele 
Petticrew, Mark 

Abstract

We conducted a systematic review of observational evidence on the health impacts of women's low control/autonomy in the living environment in societies with profound gender discrimination and gender bias. Thirty observational studies of varying methodological quality were included. Overall, the evidence suggests that women's lower control or autonomy (for example lack of freedom of movement outside the home, lack of authority to access healthcare for sick children) was associated with poorer mental and physical health for women and higher morbidity and mortality for their children, after adjusting for their socioeconomic circumstances. Further studies are needed to disentangle and understand the pathways between low control and health outcomes in contexts of profound gender discrimination. This systematic review has highlighted the general low quality of the evidence base on this research question. It identifies the pressing need for high quality, longitudinal studies in the future.

Description

Keywords

Autonomy, Gender discrimination, Health outcomes, Living environment, Systematic review, Female, Humans, Health Status Disparities, Morbidity, Personal Autonomy, Sexism, Women's Health, Observational Studies as Topic

Journal Title

Health Place

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1353-8292
1873-2054

Volume Title

51

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (087636/Z/08/Z)
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/G007462/1)
Medical Research Council (MR/K023187/1)