Why has nature made men (in the majority of cases) physically larger than women?

Answer 1

it's all about natural selection, if men have got bigger (and I am not disputing the facts) it must be down to women selecting bigger partners and so having bigger babies..... Maybe the phrase "tall dark and handsome" might go some little way to explaining it

Answer 2

Indeed, physically larger males are seen mainly in mammals, where males and females live in a group. The males have a role as protection against invading males, and as a provider of food.

Compare this with insects and arachnids where the male is simply a sperm donor... he has no other role which can benefit his offspring. The females tend to have a much bigger body as they provide all the nutrients for their (many) offspring to develop inside her body. Producing eggs and developing offspring demands much more energy than producing sperm, hence the larger body size to have more body fat etc which can be used as an energy resource.

For any case of how anything is the way it is (in natural situations), it is because of forces acting on reproduction, or the health/fitness of offspring produced. Any factor that effects fitness will have a chance of effecting its' evolution.

Answer 3

Yes, what we would call the 'proximate' answer to the question is likely to be that males posess different hormones to females. The ultimnate answer requires a bit more knowledge.

Sexual dimorphism, where one sex of a species is different in appearance to the other is still a debatable topic. It isn't necessarily just a question of body size, but also colour, and appendages. Think about male mallards and peacocks - they are brightly coloured, while the female is simply brown. And in the case of deer, it is only the males have antlers. In humans, sexual dimorphism does not stop simply at body size - the general pattern is also that men have facial and chest hair, while females do not.

Sexual dimorphism is linked to many different theories. For example, it is more energetically costly to upkeep brighter coloured feathers than dull ones - so, the males with the brightest feathers are seen to be the best choice of genes for the female's offspring. In the case of mammals where we see males that are much bigger than females, the theories are slightly different. Males are much bigger, and often have 'weapons' (such as antlers/huge canines) to fight off male opponents. Not only does this ensure that the strongest male is able to mate with the females (think of the one male in a herd of deer). Generally, males are larger than females so that they 'have access' to them - as in, the largest/strongest males mate with the females, ensuring that it is THEIR offspring that the female bares. Females do, however, often choose large males (often directly linked to the quality of the male's genes), because if the large males are the father of the offspring, not only are the females gaining good genes for their babies, but also increasing the likelihood that the male will provide protection from intruders.

Answer 4

In most mammals, males are larger than females. Males, being able to produce million of sperms a day and (in most) species having no responsibility for caring for the youngs, or at least less responsibility than females have, can have much more offspring than females. Hence, males compete for females and the larger ones tend to win the battles.

In monogamous species such as gibbons there's little diference between male and female bodies as both have basically the same reproductive behavior. In highly polygamous specioes such as gorillas, the difference is extreme. Humans seem to be somewhat in between.

Answer 5

This only applies to mammals, in many of other species the sexes are the same size or the female is larger. In tribal/sociable mammals, the males hunt and more importantly fight for mates. The larger males will more likely win the mating fights and therefore breed, where males do not choose mates on size.

Answer 6

Because a woman was taken from a man's rib. In that case a man provides for a woman eventhough in this days our women believe that they are independent but initially God desired is to be so. A man has to be physically larger than his woman for a purpose of security and provision.

Answer 7

Survival of the Fitness - Darwin
Man was the hunter, gatherer, whilst the woman was the child bearer minder.

Therefore the man was the more daily physical of the two sexes and over time his frame and muscale build is larger.

Answer 8

"Nature" did not make men and women! The reason men are physically larger than women is that they have a lot more testosterone.

Answer 9

we are in the hunter gatherer domain here. we have not changed very much physically but we have mentally.

Answer 10

So women can cuddle into them!