Manflu

Today many people apparently believe that when ill with a minor virus men complain more and remain sick for longer. This is commonly known as manflu.

In reality, while the exact rates vary from country to country, women take more sick leave from work than men. Research in the UK suggests that men take around half the sick leave that women do up to the age of 40. While some may suspect that women are taking additional sick leave to care for children, childless women take more sick leave than childless men. One study reported that women take 50-70% more sick leave than men performing the same work in Norway.

Countries that allow women menstrual leave include Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, The Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Russia.

Example - manflu.info

Man Flu is a crippling and debilitating disorder indiscriminately striking down male members of the human species without warning. The illness is often referred to pejoratively by female members of the species who are in fact immune from the illness as man flu is now known to exclusively attack the XY chromosome carrier. If Man Flu is kind enough not to kill the infected party it will definitely leave him weak, sick, hurting everywhere and in dire need of TLC.

While this site is obviously intended as satire the sad truth is that a lot of people, especially women, believe this to be true despite solid evidence to the contrary.

External Links

• Full Report: Sickness Absence in the Labour Market, February 2014