|
|
Q. How much longer do we men have
to wait to achieve
longevity equality with women?
A. No wait at all. As recently as 1920 men and
women
in the U.S. enjoyed virtually equal life expectancy at
birth--around 55 years. Then over the last century, while
men increased their life expectancy to around 73 years,
women advanced to 79 years, opening a 6-year gender gap.
Why the disparity? Lots of theories, but with changes
of this sort, you would expect the causes to be cultural,
not biological, says anthropologist Marvin Harris in "Our
Kind." "People today seem to think that being the
biologically stronger sex, women naturally live longer."
As for the
wealthy playing, concludes Matheson, there
have been cases where the expected return was high enough
that an investment consortium tried to corner the jackpot by
buying every combination. |