It’s always dangerous to challenge someone’s cherished victimhood, but a new academic study does just that: men in South Africa are more disadvantaged than women.

This may upend a few certitudes about gender equality, where women are perceived as the natural victims of discrimination. That certainty has launched a thousand think tanks and academic studies and embedded itself into every aspect of our law.

Rather than conduct a straightforward headcount of women and men in all aspects of life, this study looks at quality of educational opportunities, healthy life expectancy, and overall life satisfaction – and coverts this into a numerical value, the Basic Index of Gender Inequality (BIGI).

These three factors were identified as the minimal ingredients of a good life. Gender parity does not mean everything in life is rosy, say the authors. Men and women can be equally miserable, which will not show up on the parity rankings.

The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Missouri in the US and the University of Essex in the UK. The survey covered 134 nations, representing 6.8 billion people.

The researchers preface their findings by highlighting the limitations of other attempts to rank gender inequality by failing to look at areas where men are disadvantaged, such as healthy lifespan.

Interestingly, Bahrain comes out as the top country in terms of gender equality. Life expectancies between men and women are equal, though men fall slightly behind in terms of basic education and life satisfaction.

Israel is the highest ranking country in which men have it better than women, though the difference is small.

China is another country where men have it better. Chinese girls fall behind considerably in basic education, but men have a lower life expectancy (66 years, compared to 69 years for women).

SA deviates from most African and developing countries in that women have it better. This is particularly evident in education, where men fall considerably behind women. “In this regard, South Africa deviates much from many other sub-Saharan nations (where often girls fall behind). Further, men have a shorter healthy life expectancy (48 years for men and 51 years for women in the 2012-2016 period),” says the study.

How to improve

“Both boys’ and men’s education and health need urgent attention. As for Brazil, a reduction in violence will support this in addition to preventative health care and investment in educational resources.”

Men were found to be more disadvantaged than women in 91 countries while women were more disadvantaged than men in 43. Men are worse off in the US, Russia and most European nations.

The study recommends policies targeting specific gender disparities to improve the overall quality of life. “It is important to realise that gender equality is not a zero-sum game. Instead, improving the position of one gender will likely positively influence the other gender as well,” say the authors.

“For example, improving educational opportunities for girls in Africa will benefit the families they will later form. Improving men’s health benefits the families in which they live. Ultimately, we all win by increasing gender equality.

“Men’s disadvantages are particularly related to health factors, especially in the developed world. Investment in prevention programmes and a more coherent approach to male health is key to improving this situation. For example, there are various national and international strategies for women’s health, but few for men’s health. Creating a national and international strategy for men’s health is a first step to reduce gender inequality in this area.”

Women’s disadvantages are particularly strong in Africa, particularly when it comes to access to education and maternal death during life birth.

The study can be found here.

AADP: The Average Absolute Deviation from Parity (AADP) ranking gives a sense of how close a country is to achieving gender equality (remember, equality does not necessarily mean that men and women are doing well, on average, just that they are more or less equal within their life circumstances).

BIGI: The Basic Index of Gender Inequality (BIGI) ranking is based on a simple average of healthy life expectancy, basic education and life satisfaction. A BIGI score below zero means women are better off than men.

Ideally, a country will have a good BIGI and a good AADP ranking. However, there are countries with a good BIGI ranking and a much lower AADP ranking. In such countries, both men and women have considerable problems, but on the whole, men and women’s disadvantages cancel each other out.

South Africa