To be interested in why women generally live longer than men?

[JFDIYOLO]

Quite a few articles doing the rounds this week.

The XX chromosome combo seems more robust - if there's something wrong with one X, a woman's other X will compensate (eg I probably carry my father's colour blindness but my mother's healthy X patched that). But male embryos/men, with only the one X, may be more vulnerable.

Female embryos are more engaged with building the immune system very early on than male.

Men are more likely to do risky behaviour like motorbikes, driving dangerous, drinking, fighting - testosterone is a dangerous drug?

Men are more likely to be doing dangerous professions - building sites, deep sea diving, the military etc, and to die at work.

Men are more likely to murder and be murdered.

Men are less likely to consult a doctor for health issues - I once came home to find my partner googling 'What should I do about this pain in my chest' (yes, heart attack) whereas I'm on the phone if it doesn't look right, feel right, act right and to take every routine test on offer - because I've been socialised to know my entire female anatomy is trying to kill me.

Men are less likely to talk about and ask for help with mental and emotional issues which can descend into depression, and higher male suicides.

Even though women still die in childbirth, suffer PND, are way more likely to be murdered by their intimate partners and are prescribed drugs that were habitually not developed using female test cohorts.

www.sciencenewstoday.org/why-do-women-live-longer-than-men-scientists-say-the-answer-lies-in-evolution

I've responded to your posts without insult, unlike you, so how is that harassing you.
I have however decided your a bit un-hinged so I'm out.
Have a nice day.

No I'm bothered by the uncouth.

A friend says it's God's way of making up for all the time we lose queuing for the ladies wherever we go...shops, theatre, cinema and etcetera.

The gap is closing. Many reasons mainly covered in your post. Less killed in war. The decline in industry; until recent years a working class man employed in coal mining, bottle factory, cigarette factory, farm labouring, mdf carpentry, fishing (to name a few) had a life expectancy of 54 years. Men who had been to university, worked as professionals (outside the city) and were not drinkers or smokers had a life expectancy of 92, but of course there were not enough of them to raise the mean or median lifespan.
Despite medical research being done on men it was predominantly white middle class age 26, the findings were not translated to medical care which was not good for working class men of those living in poverty. In the UK minority groups generally lived 20 years less than equivalent white men even when predisposing health conditions were discounted.
Many genetic conditions are carried by women but men are affected. Whilst the women carriers may have symptoms these on the whole do not reduce life expectancy significantly, whereas in the affected men/boys they will have a shorter life.
Health politics is fascinating. There are some really interesting studies carried out here in the UK and it is also relevant to compare results of those done in Australia and New Zealand.

Premature female foetuses are more likely to survive.

women are more likely to survive plane crashes.

women have better support networks to motivate them to live and to help them in old age.

women do better self care

I’m in my late 50’s and do 3 exercise classes a week chock full with older women, most of the village is there- oldest is 80 odd, not a single man. Not only is it good health wise it is a social thing as well, gets you out meeting people, what classes like this do older men do??

Girls.
It's a school night.
Don't make me come up there.

Anyway.
My mother combined SAHM with nursing, bar work, care home work. 1970s.
Her mother combined it with working in a department store and her unmarried aunt was a glover. 1930s 1960s.
Their mother combined SAHM with market gardening 1900s.
We count teachers, shoemakers, factory workers, civil servants, domestic service and a nun in our women's family history going back to the 1800s.
Women always worked, often in dangerous occupations like mining, and weaving (along with children).

I didn't say all women didn't work - I'm well aware many do. It was just an observation.
My mil and her friends all gave up work when they married and had children. My paternal aunts the same.
None of them have worked since - they're all in there 90's and have been widowed for atleast 20 years.
None of the above makes me thick as a brick.

Not really. Being sexually driven, more agressive and more willing to take risks has been evolutionarily advantageous, and probably still is. So from a male pov, what might look like stupid risky behaviour probably results in more offspring being produced - as long as you have a sensible, long lived female to raise it for you.

In a nutshell ;)

I don't think it's genetic. Men do a lot of hard labour compared to women, they do a lot of the dirtier jobs, they are risk-takers and they do really dumb things from time to time. There could be a genetic element, but I think it's just how men live their lives.

As the west has not been involved in any world conflict recently, even though there was a real danger of our lads being conscripted to fight Russia, men and women might be starting to enjoy equal life expectancies. Shorter ones, however, because modern life is pure chaos compared to that experienced by Gen X and boomers.

A longer life is the compensation we get for having to put up with all their crap when they're alive.

How we live our lives IS largely genetic.

Hard labour because they are bigger and stronger. Dirtier jobs - go to a care home. Risk assessment and taking is almost exclusively a genetic trait. Dumb things, ditto.

We massively overestimate ‘choice’ in our behaviour because we love the idea of free will. But on a population level, most things are heritable. Weird ones like job satisfaction and whether you like the gym - heritable.

On the women working point, we can all have anecdata. My MIL gave up work and died in her 50s. So did my other MIL (I have short-lived MILs). My mum, gran and great-granny all worked and lived much longer.

@Hopethishelps2025Is there really any need to be so incredibly rude, arrogant and insulting! 🙄

Ofcourse we all have anecdata but we don't have to call each other thick because we have different opinions as one poster has.

Hopethishelps2025 is completely correct about the fact women historically have always worked alongside mothering responsibilities but blimey there's really no need for that level of venomous contempt.

And what Gingernessy has highlighted, completely reasonably in my opinion, is the blip in history in the 20th century where some WC and lower MC families were able to be supported by one (male) income for the first time alongside their upper class peers. This particular cohort now make up many of the long widowed women in their 80s and 90s and it's not unreasonable to wonder if this has impacted longevity in some cases (alongside a myriad of other factors).

Anecdotally, my own mother - WC, support worker for 30 years, mum of four - was far more knackered, in poorer health and died a decade earlier than both of her more affluent, non-working sister-in-laws who made it well into their 80s in good health.

The majority of women, the working class have always worked. My grandmothers born just before ww2 worked their entire lives. Same with my the Victorian Great grandmother I met. Whilst you clearly don't deserve to be battered for your views you are obviously a very sheltered person.

Women have stronger immune systems than men. With centenarians, women outnumber men by roughly 4 to 1. I think we are overall more resilient creatures.

I totally get that.
My mum and her mum both worked. I work and always have. My mil and her cohort didn't. My paternal aunts didn't.
I simply made an observation from my experience - why I needed to be told I was thick as a brick I'm not sure.
I thought this was just a discussion about longevity- not a feminist onslaught.
I find the pressure of providing an
income at the mercy of an employer is stressful for both sexes - those with a guaranteed income experience less stress as studies of UBI's show.
Some women are sahm + home makers all there lives some aren't.
Both are valued members of society which is all that really matters.

Another big one is that men are more likely to eat a lot of meat and fat because it’s seen as masculine, for building muscle etc and this leads to higher rates of cardiovascular disease in men.

Why do women live longer than men?
Out of principle.

That's a saying from my country.

Life expectancy gap closing in the west due to high proportion of cancer deaths and our bad diet and stressful lifestyles driving increased heart disease risk in women.

So we don't live longer, it just feels longer due to the fact that we do more childcare and housework 😀

Is it narrowing though?