Just posted on another thread, but perhaps of interest to those here who like their stats
Many people radically underestimate the strength gap between males and females. Let's compare within a sport that's all about strength - Olympic weightlifting. The weight categories in weightlifting are different for males and females but both contain a 69 kg (10st 12lb) category. The male and female world record holders (combined lift = total of individual snatch and clean & jerk lifts) in this category are:
Male: Liao Hui, weight 69 kg, height 1.68 m (5'6''), age 30.
Combined lift 359 kg.
Female: Oksana Slivenko, weight 69 kg, height 1.64 m (5'5''), age 31.
Combined lift 276 kg.
These are two people who are the same weight, about an inch different in height and about the same age. The male lifts 83 kg more than the female, 30% more in fact. 83 kg is 13st 1lb.
So, the 69 kg male absolutely hammers the 69 kg female for strength. Where are the females who are stronger than him? How tall and heavy are they?
The answer is, in this sport, they don't exist. Coming in at the heaviest female weight category (+90 kg):
Female: Tatiana Kashirina, weight 108 kg (17st), height 177 cm (5'10''), age 27.
Combined lift 348 kg.
That's right. The male record holder for the 69 kg category can outlift the female record holder in the top category, a woman who has a 4 inch height advantage and over 6 stone of weight on him, a woman who might reasonably be described as the strongest woman in the world.
Tatiana WOULD beat the male records in the 62 kg (333 kg) and the 52 kg (307 kg) categories. So this beast of a female has a shot against males who are over 7 stone lighter and at least six inches shorter than her. 52 kg is less than half her weight and she's only pulling an extra 13% on the male lift in this category.
The strength gap between males and females is utterly breathtaking. It's not a "gap", it's the Grand Canyon.