• gender norms
• health
• chronic disease
• matrilineal societies

It has long been a puzzle why women, who outlive men in most societies, nonetheless experience worse health over their lifetimes (1) (see also refs. 2 and 3). Many explanations center on inherent biological differences that contribute to high morbidity in women (e.g., ref. 4). Yet, health is shaped extensively by social and cultural factors, including gender norms that impact autonomy, resource control, and social support (2, 5). Kinship systems, which structure gender norms in human societies, serve as useful proxies for examining the effects of gender norms on gendered health disparities. In patrilineal kinship systems—where resources are preferentially passed via the male line—women may be disadvantaged by lower social status and limited control over resources (6), compromising their health (7). Conversely, in matrilineal systems—where resources are preferentially passed through the female line—women may experience better health because they have greater control over resources and more kin support (8⇓–10). Men’s health is less likely to be affected by differences in kinship, as men often retain access to resources and positions of authority in matrilineal systems (11, 12).

Broad ecological and cultural differences between most matrilineal and patrilineal societies make it difficult to isolate the effects of their contrasting gender norms on health (13). Here, we leverage a unique natural experiment offered by the matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo of China, who live in similar environments and share broad cultural norms, allowing us to isolate the effect of gender norms on disparities in health. We investigated the hypothesis that gender norms contribute to gender disparities in health by testing the prediction that the disparity typically observed in chronic disease (poorer health among women) would be present in patrilineal Mosuo communities but ameliorated in matrilineal Mosuo communities.

Matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo identify as a single ethnic group but differ in predominant gender norms (13). Matrilineal families are organized around maternal kin; resources are transmitted along the female line, women are actively involved in household decision making, and women have higher status than men in many domains (14). Spouses often live apart, remaining instead in their natal homesteads (i.e., residence is natalocal), and children are raised in their mother’s household as a member of her lineage (14). Among patrilineal Mosuo, men maintain household authority, and sons inherit household resources (15). Monogamous marriage and patrilocality prevail, producing nuclear or stem families. Given broad similarities in cultural and ecological context, the matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo thus provide a rare opportunity to test whether gender disparities in health are influenced by societal gender norms.

To investigate the effects of variation in gender norms on health, we analyzed inflammation and hypertension. These are important indicators of long-term health and have been linked with social factors that may differ between men and women depending on societal gender norms (16, 17). As a biomarker of systemic inflammation, we used C-reactive protein (CRP), which, when elevated (≥3 mg/L), is strongly predictive of risk for many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes (18, 19). Hypertension, defined as elevated arterial blood pressures [systolic ≥ 130 mm Hg or diastolic ≥ 80 mm Hg (20)], is also a risk factor for numerous chronic diseases (21) and is a leading cause of premature death worldwide (22). In Western countries and developed parts of China, women tend to experience greater inflammation than men and blood pressures that are lower than men’s at reproductive ages but higher than men’s at postreproductive ages (2, 23⇓⇓⇓⇓–28).

Both inflammation and hypertension are associated with a range of social factors, including poverty, stress, early-life trauma, and lack of social support (17, 29⇓⇓–32), that are experienced differently by men and women depending on cultural context. If gender disparities in long-term health are influenced primarily by biological sex differences, then we expect women to exhibit greater inflammation and lower rates of hypertension than men in both matrilineal and patrilineal contexts. If, however, inflammation and hypertension are affected by gender norms, we hypothesize that matriliny will ameliorate gender disparities in both outcomes.

We estimated CRP in 369 Mosuo participants and identified chronic inflammation as CRP 3 to 5 mg/L (33). Pregnant women were excluded, as were individuals with CRP > 5 mg/L (to avoid misinterpreting acute inflammatory episodes produced by transient infection). In patrilineal communities the prevalence of chronic inflammation in women (8.4%) was more than double that for men (3.2%), but this pattern was reversed in matrilineal communities (6.5% for men; 3.6% for women). Blood pressures from 993 individuals reveal the same pattern for hypertension: women exhibited a higher prevalence (37.4%) than men (29.7%) in patrilineal communities, while the reverse was true in matrilineal communities (35.2% for men; 31.2% for women).

Using Bayesian logistic regression, we modeled an interaction between gender and kinship to test whether men and women experience differences in chronic inflammation and hypertension in matrilineal and patrilineal communities, controlling for age (Table 1). Fig. 1 shows the predicted probabilities of elevated CRP and hypertension resulting from this model. We find reversed gender disparities in both inflammation and hypertension under matriliny, driven primarily by reduced probabilities of both chronic inflammation (0.02) and hypertension (0.20) for women in matriliny compared with patriliny (inflammation: 0.05, Δ = 0.03; hypertension: 0.32, Δ = 0.13). These effects were robust to controls for both age and body mass index (SI Appendix, Table S1).

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Fig. 1.

Predicted probabilities of chronic inflammation (A) and hypertension (B) by gender and community. Means and high-probability density intervals were calculated for 1,000 predictions drawn from posterior distributions produced by the Bayesian logistic regressions reported in Table 1 (base model); n = 371 (A) and 958 (B). The effect of gender on inflammation and hypertension depends on prevailing gender norms. In patrilineal communities, women have higher probabilities of both elevated CRP and hypertension than men, but in matrilineal communities, these gender disparities are reversed.

It is remarkable that widely reported gender disparities in inflammation and hypertension are not only attenuated but reversed in matrilineal Mosuo communities. We do not have direct evidence of the pathways that produce this reversal. Research in other populations points to relatively high autonomy, greater social and material support, and enhanced parental investment in daughters as potential mechanisms buffering against stress or adversity (9, 34).

Our data provide partial support for the hypothesis that the effect of matriliny on women’s health is associated with increased autonomy and resource control. Specifically, we find that being head of household is inversely associated with elevated CRP, suggesting that autonomy in the household is protective against chronic inflammation in both communities (Table 1). Hypertension is increased among heads of household; however, the protective effect of matriliny among women remains. Household autonomy is thus an important predictor of embodied gender norms, even if specific outcomes vary in direction of association.

We find no significant effect of matriliny on inflammation or hypertension among men (Fig. 1). This result strengthens the inference that gender norms are important drivers of health, as men’s experiences in matriliny are distinct from women’s experiences in patriliny among the Mosuo, in that men retain a large degree of autonomy and resource access in matrilineal communities (12). Men in these communities are likely further buffered by natalocal residence, which preserves networks of social support among kin (35).

Comparing matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo illustrates that societal gender norms can have profound effects on health, particularly for women. The public health implications of patrilineal gender norms have been underappreciated. While patriliny has been linked to reduced autonomy and resource access for women, we demonstrate that these inequalities can have tangible biological effects that contribute to gender disparities in health.