In an evolutionary sense. What advantage does being smaller/weaker than men confer? And I am aware that many women are much bigger than even most men. I am talking as an overall group NOT trying to make any point here, Just want to know and can't find any good answers on the net.
There is gender difference in most species alive on this planet, in coloration, size, dominance...etc.... In the case of most simians the size difference is the result of societal dominance and child rearing requirements.
From an engineer's point of view, the main advantage of being smaller, weaker and lighter are energy savings. Even at the same overall weight, women require roughly 10% less energy to survive than men. Those savings grow to about 20% when average men and women are compared. Since humans are social animals that can divide work according to aptitudes, it's advantageous to have some weaker individuals that require less food, while others are stronger, but need more food to survive. The very rough estimates on energy intake are based on this: http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html
Well, not sure the reasons, but in mammals, polygamous mammals tend to have larger males, while monogamous mammals have equal sized genders or larger females.
Women are generally smaller and have two holes in their bottoms, so men can carry them around like a 6 pack of beer. Seriously though, perhaps the male hormone is to blame. I have seen women on testosterone that I would run from in a fight, for they had bodies like men, when it comes to muscles. No doubt that it is still a man's world, for it goes back to earlier times when men were stronger and could just whip a females ass if she got out of line. Brute physical force does mean something. They might have a hard time with Ronda Rousey though, and she isn't on the ROIDS.
The answer: God made women inferior to men. You can look at every different ethnic group, and women are always the weaker sex. Women have only 60% of upper body strength of men. In fact, this has been known for so long, the US military PT and conditioning tests curve their test by exactly the same percentage. This is why women make poor firefighters, soldiers or in any other job that requries brute force and strength. Strength and muscle characteristics were examined in biceps brachii and vastus lateralis of eight men and eight women. Measurements included motor unit number, size and activation and voluntary strength of the elbow flexors and knee extensors. Fiber areas and type were determined from needle biopsies and muscle areas by computerized tomographical scanning. The women were approximately 52% and 66% as strong as the men in the upper and lower body respectively. The men were also stronger relative to lean body mass. A significant correlation was found between strength and muscle cross-sectional area (CSA; P < or = 0.05). The women had 45, 41, 30 and 25% smaller muscle CSAs for the biceps brachii, total elbow flexors, vastus lateralis and total knee extensors respectively. The men had significantly larger type I fiber areas (4597 vs 3483 microns2) and mean fiber areas (6632 vs 3963 microns2) than the women in biceps brachii and significantly larger type II fiber areas (7700 vs 4040 microns2) and mean fiber areas (7070 vs 4290 microns2) in vastus lateralis. No significant gender difference was found in the strength to CSA ratio for elbow flexion or knee extension, in biceps fiber number (180,620 in men vs 156,872 in women), muscle area to fiber area ratio in the vastus lateralis 451,468 vs 465,007) or any motor unit characteristics. Data suggest that the greater strength of the men was due primarily to larger fibers. The greater gender difference in upper body strength can probably be attributed to the fact that women tend to have a lower proportion of their lean tissue distributed in the upper body.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8477683
Hormones have a lot do do with it---in ancient times if a boy was made a Eunich (castrated) before puberty, they remained smaller and didn't grow the bulk. But frankly--men and women are different in more then just size. Their brains are different, and how they think. And of course their parts are different. Its not just societal and its not just hormones. I have to crack up at my neutered dog who doesn't understand he's neutered. He may not have his nuts and his hormones, but he gets all giddy over the opposite sex.
just looking around here in the u.s. women are bigger than the men..they out weigh us by at least a 100 lbs
