Protesters march in Berlin to mark International Women’s Day on Wednesday.
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John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images
Protesters march in Berlin to mark International Women’s Day on Wednesday.
John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images
According to a study, both women and men are likely to live longer as a country moves towards gender equality. new global study which the authors believe is the first of its kind.
The study was published in the journal PLOS Global Public Health this week, just before International Women’s Day. It adds to a development research agency shows progress in women’s rights benefit everyone.
“This International Women’s Day, let us not forget that evidence has shown that increasing the presence of women in many areas contributes to a wealthier and, therefore, healthier society for all. everyone,” said lead author Cat Pinho-Gomes, a researcher at the George Institute for Global Health and Imperial College London. in a release.
The researchers estimated gender equality in 156 countries using a “modified global gender gap index”, based on an index developed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) since 2010 to 2021. They believe this is the first study to examine the link between that index and the sex gap in life expectancy.
“Globally, greater gender equality is associated with longer duration [life expectancy] for both women and men and widen the gender gap in [life expectancy]”, they concluded.
Overall, in 2021, each 10% increase in the revised gender disparity index is associated with a 4.3-month increase in life expectancy for women and a 3.5-month increase in life expectancy for men, resulting in The gender gap is wider than 8 months.
There are significant differences between geographical areas, with much narrower distances among high-income countries.
It suggests that gender equality could initially widen the gender gap in life expectancy, the researchers said, “because greater gender equality benefits primarily benefit people’s lives and health. women.” But the spillover effect will ultimately benefit men’s longevity as well.
“As countries progress towards continued gender equality, the benefits of increased participation of women in society will extend to men, thus leading to a greater increase in gender equality. [life expectancy] and close the gender gap in [life expectancy],” they wrote.
Equality in education has the strongest association with life expectancy
“Many factors determine how long you will live – such as living and working conditions, exposure to pollution, access to healthcare, education, income and support,” explains Pinho-Gomes. society – dependent on sex differences around the world”. .
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index focuses on four dimensions: health, economic opportunity, education and political leadership.
The researchers focused on the political, economic and educational aspects of gender equality and found that gender equality was most strongly associated with increased life expectancy.
That underscores the importance of investing in education, Pinho-Gomes says, especially in low- and middle-income countries where resources and opportunities for girls are still limited.
The study notes that while more than two-thirds of countries achieve gender parity in primary school enrollment by 2020, significant disparities persist in some parts of Africa, the Middle East and the Middle East. South Asia.
Girls’ access to education has been lasting meaning for the well-being of themselves and their communities, including in areas such as family planning and poverty reduction. And, Pinho-Gomes says, it doesn’t just matter in developing countries.
“Even in high-income countries – where significant progress has been made in addressing gender inequality in recent years – investing in gender equality can still pay off,” she said. for longevity, especially for men.
Advances in politics and the workforce are also needed
The study also highlights some of the economic challenges women face, namely Gender pay gap and lower labor force participation rates.
It said that “unleashing the full potential of half the world’s population” would require changing social norms and implementing “gender-sensitive policies” such as adequate parental leave and flexible hours.
Research concedes that policy reforms are easier said than done. It says that even when women are represented in large numbers in political institutions, they often face glass barriers and other challenges that limit their power to create change.
Pinho-Gomes said that the weaker link between gender equality in the political sphere and the gender gap in life expectancy “raises concerns about how political systems worldwide implement gender equality.”
United Nation display data that women around the world are underrepresented at all levels of decision-making, from executive positions to local government. At the current rate, gender equality in the highest positions of power will not be achieved for another 130 years, it said.
Only 31 countries had female heads of state and/or government as of January 2023 — and that was before the resignation announcements of prominent female leaders like New Zealand. Jacinda Ardern and Scotland Nicola sturgeon.
“As we have seen from the recent resignations of prominent female politicians, women still face significant challenges in this area, including discrimination, balancing their private lives, and so on. , family and politics, win support from political parties and secure campaign funding,” Pinho-Gomes said.
Findings can help establish policy priorities at a critical time
Although the authors say their study is good — especially due to the reliability of the WEF data and the large number of countries included — they also acknowledge some limitations.
First, data are not available for all countries in the world, so associations observed in some regions may look different if all their neighbors are included. The indicator they use is not exhaustive, so the inclusion of additional indicators of gender inequality may yield different results.
They also say it’s possible that the links they observed between gender equality and life expectancy could be explained by other factors, such as socioeconomic development and sociocultural norms.
That said, they believe their findings can help policymakers around the world set priorities in public health and other areas.
And the problem has become more pressing: The WEF estimates that the time it takes to close the global gender gap has increased over an entire generation — from 99.5 years to 135.6 years — as a result. of the COVID-19 pandemic, where, in the researchers’ words, there was “a gender impact in many areas of life.”
