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Why Women Live Longer
By Shlomo Maital
Biologists and scientists in general know a lot. But there still remain many mysteries in our universe that are unsolved.
Here is one. In 175 countries out of the 178 that keep demographic records, women outlive men, in life expectancy. In Israel: 84.7 years (women), 80.7 (men). In the US: 80 for women, 76 for men. The four-year gap seems like a small one, but it is actually very large. And it exists for life expectancy at age 5, and also at age 50.
Why do women outlive men? Here are the theories. Women suffer less from heart disease, strokes and cancer. Why? Maybe: They have estrogen, which seems to help the immune system. Women drink less alcohol and smoke less. Women tend to visit doctors more often for checkups.
And — women have two XX chromosomes, men have one X and one Y. The double XX provides some redundancy, in case one X is damaged, and the X chromosome seems related to immunological strength.
At conception, 108 embryos are male compared to every 100 that are female. Why? We don’t know. At birth, 105 males are born to every 100 females. So, more male embryos die before birth than female. More males are born, but they live shorter lives.
There is a major social program that derives from the fact that women live longer. At ages 65, 70 and older, there are many more widows than widowers. Some are blessed with nearby children and grandchildren. And with friends and social groups. But many are not. They are lonely and isolated.
And related to that loneliness: Many elderly women are not in good health. Because — women suffer more morbidity (ill health) than men do, yet live longer. We do not know why. Women have more ill health, yet live longer, because they do not die from their illnesses. Why?
Readers: Any ideas?
COVID-19 Leaders: Listen to the Women
By Shlomo Maital
I’ve written this before – but now, today, with the coronavirus raging in the US and EU – it bears repeating. Women have done far far better than men, as national leaders in the fight against the pandemic. Question is – why? *
* see Arwa Mahdawi, “the secret weapon in the fight against coronavirus: women”. The Guardian, April 11 2020.
* Tsai In-Wen, a former lawyer, Taiwan’s first female President elected in 2016, has effectively limited the pandemic in her country, from the start.
* Jacinda Arden has virtually eliminated the coronavirus in New Zealand and won resounding re-election, with a parliamentary majority.
* Angela Merkel, lame-duck German Chancellor, has been a voice of calm and reason, in the face of neo-Nazi demonstrations in her country. She is herself a scientist, and not only listens to the science but truly deeply understands it.
* Denmark, led by PM Mette Frederiksen, and Finland, led by PM Sanna Marin, have both done well in limiting the pandemic in their countries.
* As of 27 September 2020, Norway has performed 1,034,670 tests and reported 13,741 confirmed cases and 274 deaths. A senior Norwegian Institute of Public Health consultant said one of the major reasons why the mortality rate was significantly lower than in other European countries (such as Italy, Spain, the UK) was the high number of tests performed in Norway. Erna Solberg has been Norwegian PM for over 6 years.
* Iceland joins Taiwan, mong a group of countries which adopted a cooperative strategy early on in the pandemic, bringing together multiple organizations to tackle the challenges in containing COVID-19. Katrín Jakobsdóttir is erving as the 28th and current Prime Minister of Iceland since 2017.
Seven brilliant women, who have led their countries to safe shores. Concidence? When the three biggest failures in controlling the pandemic were led by men: Trump (US), Bolsinaro (Brazil) and Johnson (UK)?
I could list some speculative theories about why women have been far more successful than men in controlling the pandemic crisis.
But I leave it to the reader. Because – you, dear reader, know why.
TIMnovate 