# Living to our full potential: Reassessing global sex inequalities in life expectancy

## TL;DR

This paper explores how sex-based differences in life expectancy are shaped by social and structural factors rather than biology.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a new framework for understanding sex inequalities in life expectancy by focusing on unrealized potential.

## Key findings

- Sex disadvantage in life expectancy varies by age, location, and time period.
- Inequalities are attributed to social and structural constraints rather than biological differences.
- Benchmarking life expectancy against achievable levels highlights unrealized potential.

## Abstract

Benchmarking life expectancy against what is achievable reveals how sex disadvantage shifts by age, place, and time, and reframes inequality as unrealized potential due to social and structural constraints rather than differences in biology.

In this Perspective article, Ann Weber and Gary Darmstadt discuss how benchmarking life expectancy against what is achievable reveals how sex disadvantage shifts by age, place, and time, and reframes inequality as unrealized potential due to social and structural constraints rather than differences in biology.