1) The author wants comprehensive gender analysis to be carried out, more than likely to "find" that women are discriminated against in many ways.  Nothing is more important to humans than life, and the gender analysis from Stats Can. shows that a girl born today is expected to live more than four years longer than a boy.
2) You argue that life span has nothing to do with discrimination.  Why then do feminists argue that paying  a male-dominated job (e.g., miner) more than a female-dominated job (e.g, retail sales clerk) is evidence of gender discrimination?  One of the reasons men have a lower life expectancy than women is that they typically do all of the most dangerous jobs (e.g., miner).
3) If the life expectancy of a male were four years longer than a female, would  feminists argue that this is evidence of gender discrimination? I think they would.