The physiological differences between men and women are natural.
It is said that Men and Women are born from Mars and Venus respectively. However, there are some proven differences between Man and Woman in terms of health which must be naturally. As gender is a defined characteristic pertaining to masculinity and femininity depending upon male and female organs biologically. In the context of social, gender is the concept of mind accordingly works has been distributed such as female must be involved with household activities and child care while male should go out for work. Scientifically, the physical and mental differences between men and women are well established.
- An average man is taller and heavier than a woman.
- Male athletes have longer and larger bones than female from an athletics perspective.
- Male gets mechanical advantages over female because male needs wider surface area and more leverage to support muscles while female athletes have a wider pelvis and a lower centre of gravity.
- Men are about 30 per cent stronger than women.
- Male athletes generally have a higher ratio of muscle mass to body weight, giving them the advantage of greater speed and acceleration. However, both genders show equal strength in terms of muscular strength to a cross-section of muscular area.
- Men have a larger heart and lungs than women.
- Basal metabolic rate in men is observed higher than women.
- Body fat per fat percentage of female is higher than men, it could be due to natural reproductive demands for females which allows a woman to keep the species going.
- Numbers of Red Blood Cells (RBCs) in men are 20% higher in comparison women. Less number of RBCs affects in female affects delivery of oxygen which lead to their lower performance.
- If a man is jogging at 50 per cent of his capacity, a woman may have to jog at 70 per cent or more of her capacity to keep up.
- Levels of hormones in men and women are different. Men have higher levels of testosterone while women have higher levels of oestrogen.
- Testosterone enables men to bulk up easily.
- Stress hormone levels also differentiate between man and woman e.g. cortisol, epinephrine and oxytocin. During stress, the first two increase blood pressure and the brain release oxytocin to counter these effects. Lower levels of oxytocin secretion in men explain the spike in their physiological response to stress. In this basis man have ‘fight or flight’ response while women gravitate towards a ‘tend and befriend’ approach when faced with stress.
- Women have been classified weaker sex traditionally, ignoring the need to improve fitness attitudes, not seeing it as adding value to their roles at home, work or play.
Though, these are mainly biological differences; man and woman supposed not be differentiated socially. Both genders must be treated with equal values and rights. All the work done by male could be done by female while giving birth to a child never be possible for male. So, female must be given more importance than male.
The differences need to be addressed intelligently with intelligent debate. Physiological differences need not limit women in the society. Women should be positive and live active lifestyle to pursuit’s similarities and should break the self-induced gender bias towards fitness, education, works etc. Similarly men should not stress to woman for any work often let alone managed.
Now, gender lines are slowly being blurred. It’s good to recognise that the differences are natural but a large common ground exists where men and women can both strive for better health, rights etc. in the society.