Fix A G
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside 95251.
Hum Biol. 1991 Apr;63(2):211-20.
An excess of male over female deaths is characteristic of modern national populations, whereas in some high-mortality societies female mortality exceeds that of males. Among the Semai Senoi, a Malaysian Orang Asli ("aboriginal") population, women experienced higher mortality than males in the decades before 1969. This differential occurred in all age classes older than 15 years so that the sex ratio progressively increased with age. A recent (1987) restudy of the Semai population found that sex-specific differential mortality is much reduced. A comparison of the 1969 and 1987 life tables shows a sharp shift in the sex ratios of mortality for the post-15-year-old age classes (the geometric means of age classes 15-44 were 0.768 in 1969 and 0.997 in 1987) so that male and female expectations of further life at age 15 are now nearly identical. In contrast to the best-known cases of high female mortality (mostly in South Asia), Semai sex differential mortality does not include the childhood ages. The Semai have traditionally been relatively sexually egalitarian, and sex bias in care has not occurred. Analysis of sex-specific causes of death for the pre-1969 population suggests that maternal mortality is the major cause of the excess female deaths. The reduced number of maternal deaths seems largely due to better health care, particularly the availability of hospital services. Interestingly, the reduction in female mortality has occurred simultaneously with increased fertility, and overall mortality has continued at relatively high levels (eO less than 36). Thus, rather than forming a component of a unitary demographic transition, declining sex differences in mortality can be accounted for by a specific factor, better maternal care.
男性死亡人数超过女性是现代国家人口的特征，而在一些高死亡率社会中，女性死亡率超过男性。在马来西亚原住民塞迈族中，1969年之前的几十年里，女性死亡率高于男性。这种差异在所有15岁以上的年龄组中都存在，因此性别比随着年龄的增长而逐渐上升。最近（1987年）对塞迈族人口的重新研究发现，特定性别的死亡率差异大幅降低。1969年和1987年生命表的比较显示，15岁以上年龄组的死亡率性别比发生了急剧变化（15 - 44岁年龄组的几何平均数在1969年为0.768，在1987年为0.997），因此现在15岁时男性和女性的预期剩余寿命几乎相同。与最著名的高女性死亡率案例（大多在南亚）不同，塞迈族的性别死亡率差异不包括儿童期。塞迈族传统上在性别方面相对平等，不存在护理中的性别偏见。对1969年以前人口按性别划分的死因分析表明，孕产妇死亡率是女性死亡人数过多的主要原因。孕产妇死亡人数的减少似乎主要归功于更好的医疗保健，特别是医院服务的可及性。有趣的是，女性死亡率的下降与生育率的上升同时发生，总体死亡率一直维持在相对较高的水平（预期寿命不到36岁）。因此，死亡率性别差异的缩小并非单一人口转变的一部分，而是可以由一个特定因素——更好的孕产妇护理来解释。
