TY - JOUR

T1 - New perspective on why women live longer than men

T2 - An exploration of power, gender, social determinants, and capitals

AU - Baum, F.

AU - Musolino, C.

AU - Gesesew, H.A.

AU - Popay, J.

PY - 2021/1/14

Y1 - 2021/1/14

N2 - Background: Women live longer than men, even though many of the recognised social determinants of health are worse for women than men. No existing explanations account fully for these differences in life expectancy, although they do highlight the complexity and interaction of biological, social and health service factors. Methods: this paper is an exploratory explanation of gendered life expectancy difference (GLED) using a novel combination of epidemiological and sociological methods. We present the global picture of GLED. We then utilise a secondary data comparative case analysis offering explanations for GLED in Australia and Ethiopia. We combine a social determinant of health lens with Bourdieu’s concepts of capitals (economic, cultural, symbolic and social). Results: we confirmed continuing GLED in all countries ranging from less than a year to over 11 years. The Australian and Ethiopian cases demonstrated the complex factors underpin-ning this difference, highlighting similarities and differences in socioeconomic and cultural factors and how they are gendered within and between the countries. Bourdieu’s capitals enabled us to partially explain GLED and to develop a conceptual model of causal pathways. Conclusion: we demonstrate the value of combing a SDH and Bourdieu’s capital lens to investigate GLED. We pro-posed a theoretical framework to guide future research. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

AB - Background: Women live longer than men, even though many of the recognised social determinants of health are worse for women than men. No existing explanations account fully for these differences in life expectancy, although they do highlight the complexity and interaction of biological, social and health service factors. Methods: this paper is an exploratory explanation of gendered life expectancy difference (GLED) using a novel combination of epidemiological and sociological methods. We present the global picture of GLED. We then utilise a secondary data comparative case analysis offering explanations for GLED in Australia and Ethiopia. We combine a social determinant of health lens with Bourdieu’s concepts of capitals (economic, cultural, symbolic and social). Results: we confirmed continuing GLED in all countries ranging from less than a year to over 11 years. The Australian and Ethiopian cases demonstrated the complex factors underpin-ning this difference, highlighting similarities and differences in socioeconomic and cultural factors and how they are gendered within and between the countries. Bourdieu’s capitals enabled us to partially explain GLED and to develop a conceptual model of causal pathways. Conclusion: we demonstrate the value of combing a SDH and Bourdieu’s capital lens to investigate GLED. We pro-posed a theoretical framework to guide future research. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

KW - Aus-tralia

KW - Bourdieu

KW - Ethiopia

KW - Gender inequities

KW - Health inequities

KW - Life expectancy

KW - Patriarchy

KW - Power

KW - Social determinants

KW - adult

KW - article

KW - Australia

KW - case study

KW - conceptual framework

KW - conceptual model

KW - cultural factor

KW - exploratory research

KW - female

KW - gender

KW - human

KW - life expectancy

KW - male

KW - social determinants of health

KW - Tralia

U2 - 10.3390/ijerph18020661

DO - 10.3390/ijerph18020661

M3 - Journal article

VL - 18

JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

SN - 1660-4601

IS - 2

M1 - 661

ER -