Decomposing gender inequality in functional disability among older people in Vietnam

Objectives: This study compared functional disability in older men and women, and examined the extent to which social determinants contribute to the difference in functional disability between Vietnamese older men and women.

Methods: A nationally representative sample of persons aged 60 and older in Vietnam, taken from the 2011 Vietnam Aging Survey, was analyzed (N = 2,693, consisting of 1,622 women and 1,071 men). Ordinary least squares regression (OLS) was used to identify factors associated with functional disability in men and women, while Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition for linear models was applied to examine how much of gender inequality in functional disability was attributed by the distribution of the social determinants.

Results: The OLS results showed that functional disability score for women was significantly higher than that for men, and that men and women shared similarity in factors associated with functional disability (e.g., age, educational level, employment status, and perceived sufficiency of income). The decomposition results showed that the distribution of the social determinants explained about 54 per cent of gender inequality in functional disability; among the determinants, age, employment status, and educational level were the major drivers. Approximately 46 per cent of the inequality was explained by unobserved factors.

Conclusion: The findings of this study highlight the need for policy to mitigate the social determinants (e.g., education and employment) that contribute to gender inequality in functional disability.