Are women weaker then men because of something biological, or cultural, or both?
Men do have predispositions to be higher and heavier, but lets compare equal weight categories (a 70kg man against a 90kg man would have problems too).
Cultural reasons that could be making women weaker:
- muscles considered ugly on women (or at least they think so and are afraid to do weight exercises)
- men have a big social pressure to have more strength in both childhood and as a teenager, so they often start to exercise early
- women do the physically easier work when helping out home (the brother helps to cut wood while the sister cleans the house) and this adds up over the years. This continues into adulthood, where men have a higher chance of working in a physically harder job.
Do women gain strength slower with the same intensity of exercise? Lets say there would be two people with identical physique (height, weight, initial strength, age) but of different gender. They both start weight lifting (for example) and they work out with the same intensity and duration and eat the same food. Would they end up equally strong?