>About women living longer (in the United States): A study indicated that men lived longer than women until about 1900 in this country. The opposite is true today. This has been attributed to the hard work women had to perform without the use of any of today’s appliances. A woman’s life in the United States was very hard.
>

Almost certainly, the difference in average lifespan was due to women dying in childbirth. In the last century, we've reduced bother maternal and infant death dramatically.

Tamar