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If you one day have a wife and kids who depend on you, you will feel differently and want to know they will be okay should something happen to you.
My husband and I both sleep better at night knowing that if something were to happen to either one of us, the survivor will have help financially. I hope that never happens but at least we have prepared for the possibility.
When I was married, we took out a $650k policy on me and $250k on my now Ex (because I made a lot more money than he did... the idea is to replace lost income to support the family). Eventually we raised his to $500k because he was earning more after a few moves and promotions. His promotions didn't help me any though since I had to start all over again with each move, and so he eventually he outpaced me on income as his career advanced and mine stagnated (hurt by me moving from job to job).
So we thought, hey, why not lower mine and save some money! Because I was older, to change the policy and lower it to $500k or even $350k would cost us MORE per year than for me to keep the $650k policy. That's because they can't just lower my insurance, they have to re-issue a whole new policy and I am older now than I was then.
Now I am divorced. I still have to keep the policy to support my child if I should die, but again, I am stuck with $650k. I don't need that much because I no longer need to replace my entire income and I no longer have a husband to support (for example, I don't have to worry about a husband being forced to move out of the house with the loss of my income/portion of the mortgage... my estate can just sell my house and my child move in with her father permanently). I still need my portion of child support until she's 18 and I want to have enough to pay her way though college and leave her a trust fund/nest egg to replace any other gifts and help I might have given her along the way.
But I can't change it. I am stuck with $650 unless I want to pay more money for less insurance.
Crazy huh?
To answer the OPs question, there is no rule that just because someone is male they have to have more insurance. You don't even need insurance. It's all about what makes sense financially for your family. It's a financial decision like retirement savings, short term savings, long-term savings, other investments, etc. Talk to a financial adviser if life insurance confuses you.
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