from Politics of health group - UK


Patriarchal attitudes and attitudpracticees explain half the
discrepancy in life expectancy between the sexes

[Is patriarchy the source of men’s higher mortality?
J Epidemiol Community Health 2005; 59: 873-6]

Systematic male dominance – patriarchy - explains half the
discrepancy in death rates (ie life expectancy) between the
sexes, suggests research spanning four continents in the
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The researchers base their findings on a comparison of the
rates of female homicide (which are an indicator of
patriarchy) and male death rates from all causes in 51
countries across Europe, Australasia, Asia, North and South
America.

Rates of violence against women are used to indicate the
extent of societal male dominance over women ― otherwise
known as patriarchy.

The wealth of a country, as indicated by the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) per head of the population, was also taken
into consideration, as socioeconomic factors are strongly
linked to health.

The results showed that women lived longer than men in every
single country included in the study, with homicide rates
among both sexes and GDP strongly linked to death rates in men.

GDP accounted for 13.6% of the variation in death rates
among men. But this was nowhere near as high as as the
proportion accounted for by female homicide rates, which
accounted for 48.8% of the variation in death rates among
men. Male homicide rates accounted for just 3.5%.

The higher the rate of female homicide, and therefore the
greater the level of patriarchy, the higher were the death
rates among men (and thus the shorter their life
expectancy), the figures showed.

  “Our data suggest that oppression and exploitation harm
the oppressors as well as those they oppress,” conclude the
authors, adding that the higher death rate among men – and
hence men’s shorter life expectancy - is “a preventable
social condition, which can potentially be tackled through
global social policy.” As examples of the action required,
they cite the way that children and young people are
currently socialised into patriarchal gender roles – such as
those emphasising excessive risk taking, aggression, and the
suppression of emotions by boys and young men.

Click here to view the paper in full:
http://press.psprings.co.uk/jech/october/873_ch30387.pdf