The Sexism Of Science

Are women and men really that different? No, says Angela Saini, author of a new book that debunks a few so-called scientific hypotheses about ‘the weaker sex’.

- Tracy Ramsden And Jenny Proudfoot

Myth: we aren’t as tough as men 

Women live longer than men because they are biologically better survivors from the day they’re born. Statistically, baby girls are more robust than boys, which makes mortality rates among babies a little skewed in favour of girls. And for reasons that scientists don’t fully understand, throughout their lives women tend to survive the same diseases that kill men. This is true across all countries and as far back as records have been kept. Today, of the 45 people in the world living beyond the age of 110 all but one are women.

Myth: men are wired to be hunters