It was stated that there are some social and cultural reasons besides biological factors behind the fact that women live on average three to five years longer than men all over the world. In Turkey, life expectancy at birth for women is 80.8 years, compared to 75.3 years for men. According to experts, women are more willing to visit doctors. Men have difficulty in sharing their distress and pain as a result of cultural imposition.
Üsküdar University Sociology Department faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan said that there are social and cultural factors as well as biological factors underlying the fact that women live longer than men all over the world.
Women are more willing to go to the doctor
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan stated that many scientific studies have shown that women are more willing and careful in going to the doctor and using medication than men and said, "For this reason, female patients can be diagnosed early and can be protected against fatal diseases." Erdoğan pointed out that the pregnancy process and the need for regular visits to the doctor about gynecological diseases have an effect on women's habit of going to the doctor.
They work in less strenuous lines of work
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan also stated that women work in less physically and psychologically strenuous and risky lines of work compared to men and said, "This causes women to be less exposed to death and work accidents due to occupational diseases."
"Man does not cry" culture shortens life
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Erdoğan said that another reason why men lose their health and live less long than women is the culture of masculinity they learn in society.
Pointing out that men who grow up with the teaching that "a man does not cry, does not hurt, must be brave" have difficulty in explaining and consulting even a doctor about their troubles and pains at a later age, Erdoğan also stated that the culture of masculinity leads men to behaviors such as risky driving, violence or habits such as alcohol and smoking that endanger their health.
Smoking and alcohol kill men earlier
Stating that the habit of drinking alcohol and smoking, which threaten health and cause direct or indirect death, is less in women than in men, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan said, "For example, according to TurkStat data, 13 percent of women in Turkey regularly smoke, while this rate is over 26 percent in men. 31 percent of male deaths are due to smoking-related diseases, while this rate is only 12 percent in women. Alcohol consumption is about four times higher in men than in women."
Life expectancy gap is closing
Pointing out that there are various studies that the life expectancy gap between women and men will close and equalize in the coming decades, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan said that the increase in men's awareness about their health, the increase in the rate of alcohol and smoking among the female population, and the greater involvement of women in all areas of social life have been effective in this, especially in recent years.