Ageing: Women vs. Men

There is a disparity in the equality of men and women when it comes to life expectancy. Women live longer than men. Women’s life expectancy was 81.4 years in the U.S. in 2019, while men’s was about 76.3, according to CDC data. But the Covid epidemic changed that. Women fell to 79 years, and men fell to 73.

There is evidence that women may be less susceptible to illness and death due to their biology, living healthier lifestyles, and having more fulfilling social interactions. Although more men survive at birth than women, our differences in biology and behavior, seem to affect male mortality greater than that of females’.

Everybody, men and women, benefit from healthy behaviors. A good diet, physical-activity, not smoking, no-to-moderate alcohol consumption, and maintaining deep, supportive social relationships are critical to personal well being. – However, these are things that benefit more women than men. – Men are less likely to have meaningful relationships outside of their family. And they frequently fail to seek medical attention when injured or when feeling pain and discomfort.

Researchers have looked at the lifespans of different species and found that females lived an average of 18% longer than males. In humans, females tend to live around 7.8% longer. Whereas males often live alone and have limited or no social support network and die sooner.

Men have much higher rates of smoking, alcohol consumption, and gun use. Their driving habits are also riskier and result in more accidents. Consequently, men are largely responsible for their own higher mortality rate due to death from cancer, accidents, suicide, and homicide.

But what can we do about our innate natures? Men and women are not the same. Maybe if we were we would have less conflict between the two sexes. But humanity has remained the same since the beginning.

When I was young, we had a saying, “Girls will be girls, and boys will be boys.” So it is, and so it will always be. -- And in the movie Gigi starring Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier sang “Viva la difference!” “Thank heaven for little girls! Without them what would little boys do.”

Mark Baird