Just asking - I read somewhere but can't find it. A medical report that says the apparent male advantage, physically, comes before puberty and as early as under 5 years old. Which sounds reasonable since male children appear to be mostly stronger, even if the growth spurt comes with puberty.
Can't help on the report, but this came up in a Save Women's Sports discussion with Linda Blade, Sharron Davies, Emma Hilton and others.
Here's the video, linked to the relevant time:
There is this belief that before puberty the male/female difference is minimal. And this is true, but not in the way most people think.
In fact the difference is smallest just before male puberty. Because women enter puberty earlier on average, girls are closer to boys around the age of 11 because the girls have undergone more development, on average.
But at younger ages, before girls get the early puberty advantage, the average male/female difference is bigger.
So lots of studies show an almost negligible difference just before puberty, increasing after puberty, but that small gap is in part an illusion, as you're comparing totally prepubescent boys to girls who have started maturing.