Among the three dimensions included in the study, political, economic, and educational gender equality had the strongest association with longer life expectancy for both women and men

Women and men live longer as gender equality improves, according to the first study to explore how gender equality may impact life expectancy (LE).

The study by researchers at the George Institute found that a 10 percent improvement in gender equality overall leads to an average increase of 3.7 years in life expectancy for women and 2.9 years for men. This widens the gender gap in life expectancy, as women outlive men in almost every country in the world.

Lead author Dr Cat Pinho-Gomes, Honorary Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health and Imperial College London, said the results suggest that addressing long standing gender inequality and empowering women might help extend longevity for both women and men.

“Many of the factors that determine how long you will live – like working and living conditions, exposure to pollution, access to healthcare, education, income, and social support – are layered with gender differences around the world,” she said.

“As countries make greater progress towards gender equality and women are afforded the opportunity to participate more fully in in political, economic, and social life, the whole of society reaps the rewards.” 

The researchers used a modified global gender gap index (mGGGI), based on the index developed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), and applied it across 156 countries between 2010 and 2021. They also studied data from 156 countries between 2010 and 2021.

The Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) was first introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006 to benchmark progress towards gender parity and compare countries’ gender gaps across four dimensions: economic opportunities, education, health, and political leadership.

It assigns each country a value of 0-100 for each domain so that gender equality can be measured and compared around the world. . In 2022, the global gender gap has been closed by. 68.1 percent. At the current rate of progress, it will take 132 years for it to close completely.

Among the three dimensions included in the study, political, economic, and educational gender equality had the strongest association with longer life expectancy for both women and men.

“This suggests investing in education is paramount, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where many girls are still denied access to education and resources are limited,” Dr Pinho-Gomes said.

“Even high-income countries – where substantial progress has been made to address gender inequalities in recent years – investing in gender equality may still benefit life expectancy, particularly for men. This study confirmed what we had already seen for countries in the EU using a different index, reinforcing the validity of our findings,” she said.

“The weaker association between gender equality in the political domain and the gender gap in LE raises concerns about how gender equality is being implemented by political systems worldwide,” she said.

“As we’ve seen from the recent resignations of high-profile female politicians, women still experience significant challenges in this field, including discrimination, balancing private, family and political life, gaining support from political parties, and securing campaign funding.”

The study further says that although women have historically outlived men worldwide, the gender gap in life expectancy increased from 4.5 years in 1950 to 5.4 years in 2012, then decreased to 5.1 years by 2019.

Within these global comparisons, there are marked variations between world regions. For instance, the gender gap was 8.6 years in central Europe, eastern Europe and central Asia and 3.2 years in North Africa and Middle East in 2019.

Biological factors, such as sex hormones, may partially account for the longer life expectancy of women in comparison to men. However, if the gender gap was explained exclusively by biological factors, the gap would remain relatively constant instead of varying substantially over time and place.

A detailed demographic analysis showed that prior to 1950 excess mortality among baby boys was the main driver of the gender gap in life expectancy, whilst afterwards the gender gap was underpinned by elevated mortality among men over the age of 60.

The study concludes that globally, greater gender equality is associated with longer life expectancy for both women and men. “Greater gender equality is also associated with a widening of the gender gap in life expectancy (LE), due to a larger increase in LE for women than men.”

“As countries progress along the continuum of gender equality, the benefits of increased participation of women in society extend to men, thus leading to a larger increase in men’s LE and a narrowing of the gender gap in LE. Therefore, addressing longstanding gender inequality and empowering women might help extending longevity for both women and men.”

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