title: Gender gap matters in maternal mortality in low and lower-middle-income countries: A study of the global Gender Gap Index.
abstract: Reducing maternal mortality has been a crucial part of the global development agenda. According to modernisation theory, the effect of gender equality on maternal health may differ depending on a country's economic development status. We explored the correlation between the Global Gender Gap Index (GGI) provided by the World Economic Forum and the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) obtained from the World Development Indicators database of the World Bank. The relationships between each score in the GGI, including its four sub-indices (measuring gender gaps in economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment), and the MMR were analysed. When the countries were stratified by gross national income per capita, the low and lower-middle-income countries had lower scores in the GGI, and lower scores in the economic participation, educational attainment, and political empowerment sub-indices than the high-income group. Among the four sub-indices, the educational attainment sub-index showed a significant inverse correlation with the MMR in low and lower-middle-income countries when controlling for the proportion of skilled birth attendance and public share of health expenditure. This finding suggests that strategic efforts to reduce the gender gap in educational attainment could lead to improvements in maternal health in low and lower-middle-income countries.
authors.affiliation: a Graduate School of Public Health , Seoul National University , Seoul , South Korea.
authors.forename: Seung-Ah
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6270-5020
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Choe
authors.affiliation: b Graduate School of Public Health and Institute of Health and Environment , Seoul National University , Seoul , South Korea.
authors.forename: Sung-Il
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: b Graduate School of Public Health and Institute of Health and Environment , Seoul National University , Seoul , South Korea.
authors.forename: Hongsoo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D008428:Maternal Mortality; D011203:Poverty; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: Gender Gap Index; Gender equality; economic development; educational attainment; maternal mortality ratio