Towards the genderless society: equitable for female wellbeing and male health?

Abstract

Despite the gender system that disadvantages women, in most countries women live longer than men. Women typically have higher morbidity, but this does not cancel out their advantage over a lifetime period, so that women still have a higher level of expected lifetime health than men. At the same time, the gender gap in lifetime health is narrowing. There is evidence to suggest that gender equality may help improve men’s health more than women’s health. The paper discusses the implications of moves towards a genderless, equitable world for women’s wellbeing, and for current notions of high status masculinity