How gender norms shape the health of women and men?

This paper examines the impact of social norms on health disparities, a topic that has received limited attention. By combining two European cross-country datasets, we propose a novel approach to identify the effect of changes in social norms on individual health. We leverage the European Values Study (1999–2017, N = 41284) to construct time-varying measures of gender norms in the family and the work domains at the country-year level. These measures are then linked with the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2004–2017; N = 32552) data, which is representative of the older population in Europe. We apply an OLS model, with individuals, country and time-fixed effects to investigate the role of norms on health status. Findings indicate that stronger traditional gender norms in the family likely increase depression among women, whereas more gendered norms at work decrease women's poor health reported. We disentangle some potential mechanisms to test the precise channel by which the type of norm leads to the selected outcomes: financial difficulties, smoking and drinking are among the most critical drivers. These results underscore the significance of gender norms in shaping health and emphasise the need to address them to reduce inequalities and improve societal well-being.