Why do men have much harder lives than women?
Robert Sungenis answers that it depends on perspective: women have it harder in that they are generally not in authority and are the weaker vessel physically, while men bear the heavy burden of responsibility and competition. He tells his daughters they are better off letting a man provide while they bear children, and declines to say which life is harder.
A viewer asks why men have much harder lives than women.
Answer
Who says? In one sense life is harder for the woman, because she is generally not in authority or in control and, as Scripture calls her, is the weaker vessel physically. But in another sense, men are put in positions of responsibility that women are not, and that is very hard. To be responsible, to set a good example, to deal with criminals and good people alike without favoritism, is a heavy burden, and men lose their lives over it because someone is always climbing up their back trying to take their position. I tell my daughters they do not want to live that way, always wondering who is ready to stab them in the back; they are better off letting the man take care of them while he goes out and provides, and they bear children for the next generation. It does not matter whether it is corporate, legal, political, or physical combat; it is tough, and I do not think most women would really want it. So it depends on your perspective: in some senses women have the harder life, in some senses men do, and I am not going to decide either way.