Judged by almost any criterion, women are, and always have been, the privileged sex. As embryos they are considered more vulnerable, despite the facts indicating the contrary. As children they are treated more gently and receive more protection. As students they have long been excused, or excused themselves, from whatever subjects were considered hardest. As adults they are under less pressure to compete and perform. As workers they do rather less than half of humanity’s productive labor. As economic beings they are often in the enviable position of being able to consume without having to produce. As criminals and litigants they are treated much more leniently both by the law and the courts. As members of society they are both freed from the duty to participate in the most terrible of all human activities, war, and enjoy better protection against it.

Carried on the shoulders of men — sometimes, as when escaping natural disasters and the like, literally so — women have always commanded the lion’s share of whatever comforts were available to any society at any time and place. Women are much less affected by violent crime, which is both cause and effect of the fact that their lives are considered more precious than those of men. Aided by rising living standards, on the one hand, and by modern medical science on the other, during the last two centuries or so women’s advantages have become more and more pronounced. The more developed the society, the earlier the change began and the greater its impact. By 2013, in all but two of the world’s 194 countries women can expect to live longer than men. Given these facts, one would expect women to be happy with their lot. Such, however, is not the case. As we shall presently see, in practically all countries, more women than men seem to be in some kind of mental trouble or suffer from mental disturbances. In practically all countries, women are a majority both among patients in mental hospitals and among those who resort to various other mental-health services that do not require hospitalization. In practically all countries, women are found endlessly complaining about their situation in society. Since 1970 or so, advocacy groups established by women have served as institutional voices for such complaints. In the words of one male historian,[974] a gap seems to have opened up between women’s objective situation in society and the way many of them perceive it or experience it. The more advanced the country and the more privileged the women, the truer his words ring.

From The Privileged Sex by Martin van Creveld