Despite
overwhelming evidence that gender-based stereotypes and expectations
can adversely impact health, gender-related health issues are largely
ignored or misunderstood, with international health organizations often
limiting gender-specific efforts to women or, even more narrowly, to
mothers. And yet, according to the World Health Organization, in all but three countries worldwide,
women can expect to outlive men, by up to seven years in Japan or by as
little as a year in the poorer countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Women’s
longer life expectancy has long been linked to differences in
“biological pre-disposition,” with theories ranging from the protection
afforded by women’s lower iron levels to the absence of “extra” genes on
men’s Y chromosome. But some of the most obvious factors shortening
men’s lives are to be found in a more pedestrian, yet politically
sensitive, area: the differences in the “appropriate” behaviors for men
and women, as dictated by society and reinforced by the market.
Data published in The Lancet last year show that the top ten most burdensome global diseases are more common in men than women,
and often by a large margin. For example, men die from lung cancer at
more than twice the rate of women. Likewise, road injuries and
alcohol-related death and disability are responsible for the loss of
three times as many potential years of healthy life in men than in
women.
These
disparities can be explained largely by the fact that men are exposed
to more risks than women. While there may be a biological component to
men’s propensity for risk taking (especially among young men), gender
norms reinforce risky or unhealthy behaviors by associating them with
masculinity.
Understanding
and exploiting gender norms offers commercial benefits. Given that
social norms in much of the world discourage women from smoking,
drinking alcohol, and, in extreme cases, driving cars and motorcycles,
advertisers in these industries tend to target men. For example,
alcoholic-beverage producers are leading sponsors of men’s professional
sports, but rarely sponsor women’s sporting events.
Moreover,
advertisers often promote a “live fast, die young” philosophy in order
to encourage men to ignore their product’s health risks. While three of
the original “Marlboro men” died from lung cancer, their macho spirit
endures in tobacco-product advertising in many low- and middle-income
countries.
Differences
in health outcomes are exacerbated further by women’s tendency to use
health-care services more than men. Some of this additional use is due
to women’s needs for family-planning or prenatal services, seeking
either to prevent or promote reproduction. But even when health-care use
would be expected to be equal, such as care for HIV/AIDS in Africa,
gender-based expectations impede HIV-positive men from obtaining
antiretroviral drugs proportionate to their needs.
Although
gender norms are clearly undermining men’s health worldwide, key
international organizations continue to disregard the problem or address
only those issues that are specific to girls and women when devising
strategies to improve global health. The Global Health Initiative,
for example, uses American-taxpayer money to offset the “gender-related
inequalities and disparities [that] disproportionately compromise the
health of women and girls.”
To
be sure, girls and women are less powerful, less privileged, and have
fewer opportunities than men worldwide. But that does not justify
disregarding the evidence. After all, an approach that focuses on the
half of the population that takes fewer risks and uses health-care
services more frequently cannot be expected to eliminate gender
inequalities.
Coping
with the emerging social and economic burdens associated with poor
health – not least those stemming from aging populations in many
countries – requires a new approach to replace the unbalanced,
unproductive model that currently prevails. It is time to exchange the
gender norms that are undermining men’s health for a social, cultural,
and commercial emphasis on healthier lifestyles for everyone.
Gender
norms are not static. Societies, cultures, and potential markets
change. For example, patterns of alcohol consumption in Europe are
beginning to shift. While men continue to drink more – and more often –
than women, the frequency with which girls and boys report being drunk
is now about the same. As Asian and African markets open up, similar
social changes may follow as alcohol and tobacco advertisers seek new
customers. We need to act now to bring gender justice to global health.
According
to the Roman philosopher Cicero, “In nothing do men approach so nearly
to the gods, as in giving health to men.” The multi-billion-dollar
global health industry appears to have turned Cicero’s maxim on its
head, focusing instead on “giving health to women.” But emphasizing the
health of one gender undermines gender equality and misses the point of
global health initiatives, which is – or should be – to improve health
outcomes for all.
Sarah Hawkes is Reader in Global Health and Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow
in International Public Engagement at the Institute for Global Health,
University College London.