Why does my boyfriend (M 23) think women in third-world countries have a better quality of life than men? What would you do in my (F 21) situation?

Last night, my boyfriend (23 M) and I (21 F) together for 6 months, living together got into a pretty deep discussion about whether women or men have a better quality of life. We agreed that in the West, women face more challenges overall, although he feels the difference is smaller than I do.

What really upset me, though, was his belief that women in third-world countries actually lead better lives than their male counterparts. For context, I’m an Arab ex-Muslim woman, so I’ve seen and heard plenty of firsthand accounts about the struggles women face in these societies. I even shared examples with him—child marriage, domestic violence, sexual assault, lack of education, forced prostitution after a husband’s death, and more—but he still argued that women have it easier.

His reasoning is that women are often forced into becoming housewives and are not allowed (or don’t have access) to dangerous or physically taxing jobs, while men are expected to work in harsh, often life-threatening conditions. He sees this as a privilege, in contrast to the risks men take to provide for their families. While I can see his point about workplace dangers being a huge issue for men, I just can’t see how that outweighs the systemic oppression and violence women endure in these cultures.

We debated this for hours, and I felt really upset and disheartened that he couldn’t see how bad things are for women in these situations. It left me wondering if he truly understands the realities women face. He even gave this comparison of quality of life:

Western countries: Men’s quality of life = 1 : Women’s quality of life = 0.95

Third-world countries: Men’s quality of life = 1 : Women’s quality of life = 1.2

I’m struggling to understand where he’s coming from. Why do you think he might see things this way? More importantly, what would you do if your partner held this perspective? How would you approach the situation without letting it hurt the relationship?