I was just thinking about this the other day... Given how high the birth death rate is (for the mother), and presumably older bodies are weaker, there should b

I was just thinking about this the other day... Given how high the birth death rate is (for the mother), and presumably older bodies are weaker, there should be some evolutionary pressure for the menopause - simply said, as the P(death at childbirth) rises above some threshold, it's more beneficial for the mother to not be able get pregnant (and potentially die) again but instead continue nursing her existing children. No such pressure exists for men because men have no cost of having extra offspring.