Women are Stronger than Men (but not in the ways that Men are Stronger than Women)

Call me a feminist, if you will, but I'm a traditional feminist.  I hate the modern dualities of wanting to make women victims all the time, while simultaneously claiming women can do anything a man can do.  Um... no.  I believe that God created men and women to complement one another, and He did that by giving women different strengths than men.

Of course God didn't use a cookie cutter, so none of us are the same... just as individuals may be thin or plump, short or tall, athletic or brainy, etc. and so forth and so on, the strengths of men and women are also on a sliding scale, and perceptions can be altered by comparisons.  The short 10-year-old child can still seem quite tall to even an unusually tall 5-year old.  Likewise some women can outperform some men in areas where men are typically stronger, and vice versa with the man who is unusually strong in a more typical feminine strengths.  All this to say that the following comparisons are AVERAGES, a word I will repeat often to emphasize this point.  It does not mean that I or anyone else should believe for a moment that there can't be extraordinary exceptions.  Human beings are nothing if not amazing in our diversity and uniqueness!

All that said, here are 3 observations I have personally made in my 50+ years of life...

1. The average man is stronger physically than the average woman.
This means he can lift, carry, push, and pull more.  He is, as the saying goes, tougher than women.

However, the average woman appears to be stronger in a certain type of endurance.
This means that she can endure the pains of pregnancy and childbirth, most more than once, and also continually cope with the monthly mock labor pains and mess.  She can also power through a cold or injury to continue caring for the children, and put up with unpleasant situations for a longer period of time.  How many men do you know who are the primary diaper changers, or who care for sick children on a regular basis, or who volunteer to clean up the vomit and etc.?  Exactly.

2. The average man is stronger in mechanical and spatial reasoning.
This is why so few women are carpenters, mechanics, engineers, pilots, and truck drivers.  Of course there are exceptions, but these are the worlds of men, for the most part.

The average woman, on the other hand, is much stronger in compassion and nurturing.
This can be observed by a simple observation of all of the stay home parents, day care centers, elementary schools, and nursing homes (anywhere in the world!).  The vast majority of child and elder caregivers are women.  There are exceptional men who are gifted in this area, but most men do not have the type of strength it takes to care for young children or the bedridden on a day after day after day basis.

2.  The average man is stronger in controlling his emotions.
We could argue that this has a cultural basis, and is learned, but if this is true it seems to be a universal cultural norm among all of humanity.  Men have the emotions, of course, but are much less likely to "wear it on their sleeves," reacting with strong visible emotions.

However, the average woman is stronger in emotional stamina.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that women are so much more likely to express their emotions, so that they do not get bottled up inside, but the fact is that average women tend to "soldier on" through life much more than the men around her.  This is particularly telling in suicide statistics.  Some sources say that women will attempt suicide more than men, but the reason they fail is typically because they use less lethal methods, which is more of a cry for help than a serious attempt to kill oneself.
https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/

These are my personal observations, as stated previously.  Feel free to disagree, but I just felt like writing it out because I am sick and tired of women being portrayed as either hopelessly weak or just as capable of men in every area.  No.  While there are some exceptions, to be sure, the average woman is going to be much happier fulfilling roles that play to her strengths.  (And obviously there are many many jobs that can be fulfilled equally well by either gender.)  But we as a culture need to stop devaluing the extraordinary power of women.

Random Memories from my (public) Grade School Days

(some of which are quite different from today's schools!)

1. Preschool was almost unheard of, at least in my area.  The closest thing were "mom's day out" programs which lasted a couple of hours.  One I remember hearing about was designed for high school students to care for the children as part of their home ec education (I think).  The program had been cancelled by the time I was in high school.

2. Kindergarten was half day only, with separate morning and afternoon classes (and a lunch break for the teachers in between).  It met in a completely separate building from the actual Elementary School.  There was no Kindergarten "graduation" to my knowledge, but when I was K age, the teachers were on strike and it was cancelled for the entire year.... so I never went anyway.

3. Kids learned to read in 1st grade.  Those who could already read were simply given more challenging material or books, but it was not at all expected that kids knew more than letter recognition before they started.

4. Recess was twice per day through at least 2nd or 3rd grade.  (I honestly don't recall when that ended.)  We had a recess break of 15-20 minutes in the morning, then another half hour break immediately after lunch.  It is possible that some kids were kept in for recess on occasion, but if so I don't remember that.  What I remember is everyone going outside.

5. Speaking of outside, my school had its own "nature trail" in the woods behind the school.  There was a clearing at more-or-less the halfway point with benches.  We went on the trail with our class for science lessons every once in awhile, and sometimes for fun times too.

6.  We had a snack break every morning in 1st grade (and I believe maybe 2nd?), which was in the cafeteria with those little cartons of milk available for every student.  I don't remember having any kind of snack break in 3rd grade and up, though it's possible I just don't remember.

7. School met from 8:30 (or possibly 8:20?) until 3:00, for all grades all the way through high school.

8. All of the teachers and the principal had wooden paddles, and yes, they used them when they felt it was appropriate.  The vast majority of us thought nothing of it, other than the deep desire to NOT get in trouble and actually be paddled.  I believe that stopped when I was in 5th or 6th grade.  Most teachers used their paddles very rarely, and a few didn't use them at all, but they all displayed them so we knew it was an option.  Standing in the corner was probably the most common punishment.

9. We had "hunter safety" (which of course included gun safety) training in 5th or 6th grade for ALL students.  I seem to remember shooting rifles at targets also, as part of this.


10. All students 1st through 12th rode the same bus (unless of course they drove or got rides).  Most of the teens were kind to the elementary students, and would help them if they were scared or hurt.

11. Day care was unheard of, though there were after-school clubs and programs.  Some kids also would get off the bus at different stops, or ride a different bus in the afternoon in order to reach a Grandma or other caregiver's home. 

12. Probably 90-95% of us had full time "stay home" moms at home, yet it was pretty rare to see a mom at the school (unless she worked there, of course).  We didn't have such things as "class mom" or a group of volunteers coming in every day.  Most parent volunteers only came for special events or after school things.

13. Speaking of special events, holidays were kind of a big deal, and we celebrated most of them.  Elementary students not only dressed up for Halloween, but we had a parade up and down the main street of the little town, and the townspeople would come out to cheer for us.  Valentine's Day always was a party, but giving out valentines was optional (and yes, it was actually pretty hard on those who didn't get very many--no mandatory giving to everyone in the class back then).  We also celebrated May Day in the spring, complete with Maypole dancing outside.

14. My elementary school went all the way through 6th grade, though granted my class was the very last one to experience this.  The first Middle School (5th through 8th) was established there when I was in 7th grade.

15. We had horrible ugly uniforms we were required to wear for Gym Class (today called P.E.) in 7th and 8th grade.  Thankfully those went away in high school, and we got to go cross-country skiing in the winter instead (so our uniforms were parkas and ski pants then!).

16. My high school was in the middle of farm country, and there was literally nothing but fields, cows, and a few houses for miles around.  We didn't have special days where Seniors could go out for lunch, because there was nowhere to go!  I don't remember how long lunch was, but I do remember it was pretty relaxed, and we had plenty of time to talk... probably half an hour? It was longer in middle school, because we were permitted to go outside when we were done eating--essentially a recess break, though most of us just sat around talking with our friends.

17.  My high school had Selectric typewriters, with the letter balls (anyone else remember those?), and a couple of older ones with the slide bar you had to push back after every line. The school got ONE computer my senior year, and only the Calculus students were allowed to use it!  It was kept locked up in a closet of one of the math rooms.  I didn't learn to use any sort of word processor until after high school, at a special 4-5 month secretary training program that same year I graduated (1983)--and even there it was free-standing word processing machines which did nothing else.  My four years of typing in high school were all about typing speed and accuracy.  I also learned shorthand in high school, which I've forgotten all except the curve that meant "the" LOL. My first job out of high school (which I did part time during my secretary training class), I had a boss who would dictate onto mini-cassettes, and then I would type directly from the dictation (with only occasional stops and backing up, if I didn't quite understand what he said).  My highest typing speed was 98 words per minute.