Daily Mirror

Women ARE the stronger sex

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Being the bearers of babies and therefore the key to survival of our species I’ve always thought of women as the stronger sex.

We live longer and we’re better at surviving times of hardship and disease.

Scientists from Denmark, Germany and the US have proved this by studying records over the last three centuries when there were times when life expectancy could fall below 20 years of age.

These included famines in Ireland, Ukraine and Sweden, and tropical disease outbreaks in Liberia in the 1800s. In almost all cases, females fared better.

At the height of the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, for instance, life expectancy dropped to 18.7 years for men, but to only 22.4 for women.

And during the Ukrainian famine of 1933, life expectancy was 11, but for boys it was just 7.

The female advantage is mainly attributed to the fact that girl babies do better than boy babies – which suggests that it may be related to their biology, and in particular, the sex hormone oestrogen.

It’s a known anti-inflammato­ry, whereas testostero­ne may harm the immune system and is a risk factor in many potentiall­y fatal diseases.

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