Socioeconomic position, occupational exposures, and gender: the relation with locomotor disability in early old age.

The direction and magnitude of sex differences in health vary according to the particular health condition and phase of the life cycle. In examining gender differences in health it is necessary to assess the contribution made by the particular characteristics of women and men, for example, wealth, health behaviours, and the distribution of labour both inside and outside of the home. Socioeconomic inequalities in disability are likely to result from lifetime exposures to both poor living conditions and adverse occupational exposures. However, it is not clear whether such factors would play similar parts for men and women given the degree of gender segregation in the workplace that persisted throughout the 20th century. Therefore, the aim of this analysis was to assess gender and class inequalities in locomotor disability making allowance for indicators of economic hardship and lifetime occupational exposures. The analysis concentrates on men and women in early old age, a comparatively neglected group in research on gender differences in health.