Role of gender in longevity of men and women

Women live longer because they don't have a wife. Sarcasm at its worst from the point of male chauvinism! Well, that is likely to be the case but the underbelly punch in the light statement is unmissed. Sarcasm apart, the findings of a global study by the Lancet Public Health journal are sure to cause some unease in every society. According to the study, women do live longer globally but they have to pay a heavy price in the form of higher incidence of non-fatal diseases and disabilities they suffer from compared to men. Men's comparable shorter longevity is due to disproportionate conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, respiratory and liver illnesses and road accidents leading to their premature death. Even more men's lives were claimed by Covid-19. Indeed, gender difference can have profound impact on health outcomes.

In fact, oestrogen hormone in women's body is the governing factor for giving women extra resilience against disaster, diseases or even pandemic. Release of accumulated iron through menstruation also help save them from fatal diseases like cancer. But at the same time, certain deficiencies also leave them undernourished which causes musculoskeletal problems like lower back pain, mental disorders and headache.

Human evolution from its hunter-gatherer background has come a long way off. Lifestyle, living conditions and livelihoods are light years away from where the cave man started to eke out a living. What is remarkable is that the evolution of all living organisms including humans is at the same time a most fascinating and intriguing subject. Life, they say, is an unbalanced drop of water on the lotus leaf---one that can drop off anytime. Yet the average longevity of people almost everywhere has gone up over the decades. Nations have grown taller with a higher life span. This has happened in case of Bangladesh as well. Not all is uncertain. If economy becomes strong with better choice for food, the positive outcome is reflected in the general health and longevity of a nation.

In this case, Bangladesh's economic progress has been phenomenal and although the wealth distribution was not even and rational, at least there was an ample opportunity for breaking the social barrier. Those who educated their children well right from the post-independent time made the best choice. The new generations became economically solvent and improved their living conditions. They knew how to value education, health and hygiene. Generously did they invest in their own children to give them an even better life. Thus the children born in the late 80s and 90s grew taller than their parents and embarked on missions to explore opportunities beyond the boundary. They started the process of becoming global citizens.

Alas, such a phenomenal transformation in body and mind however has been limited to a select band of society. Soon society became divided into several classes. From slum dwellers to the highly privileged living in palatial buildings, it is full of discriminations and disparities. Men and women engaged in back-breaking labour at brick kilns, earth cutting and filling and pulling rickshaws can still manage some income at the end of the day. But then there are floating people in urban spaces who have nothing to fall back upon except on begging. A large number of street children are wasted on the concrete steps or open roads. What is their survival chances. These hapless lives are unlike to figure in the study of Lancet Public Health journal.

What is, however, most amazing is that with all such discrepancies, discriminations and disparities, the Bangladesh population's overall longevity has continued to increase. In the early Pakistan period text books often informed that life expectancy of people here was in the early 40s. That has increased to 73.82 in 2024. But even in 1990 it was only 58 years. There has been trickle-down benefit, no doubt. This is what evolution of society is about. But had there been rational distribution of wealth and people from all classes could avail of equal opportunities, it would be a social revolution of sort. Bangladesh has missed on that. The privileged class has mostly not only been morally debased but also become mindless to the sufferings of the poor and the marginalised.

Today, social safety net has become the only means for tens of thousands of vulnerable people. But why? They also deserved an improved life for them. It is highly unlikely that their posterity will have any chance against the selfish, fraudulent class that has not only made illegal money but also misappropriated public money for laundering abroad to enjoy the best of both worlds. By the way, can any organisation not conduct a study on the underclass to find its average life expectancy? This may expose the malady of Bangladesh society.