Whilst men and women each have their own struggles to contend with, there are certain advantages in life for each sex. Recently, one user on r/AskReddit wondered what these were and asked, "What is easier to do if you're a woman?"
There are some surprising answers, including ones where we'd never imagine that the physical difference gives them the upper hand. There are also a few that bring up some interesting points about how men are considered in society compared to the ‘fairer’ sex. Check out the best answers that we've collected below.
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Work with children.
As someone who works in early childhood education I've had the cops called on me three times when I took my kiddos to the park. Thankfully I know the beat cop quite well so it has never caused me any real issues, but the fact that people see "Adult man...interacting with children???" and assume I'm a violent predator honestly hurts a lot.
My team is all big, burly, heavily tattooed men, but we are all insanely qualified to do our jobs, but that all means nothing to some random Karen who sees scary-looking me give piggyback rides or do a girl's braids. I had a bad childhood and just want to care of the little ones, kindly [screw] off.
By no means do women have it easier than men but there are a few unique points that stand out. If we look at the answers more closely though, they also raise some questions about why some situations are like this.
With “being able to ask for help” or “show emotions” as a couple of the answers given, we need to look at why these are difficult for men. Maybe it’s due to the societal pressure that’s put on them. The prevailing idea of what a man should be is self-sufficient and steely, so the answers mentioned don’t go hand-in-hand with that image.
Get support from others.
I tend to feel completely alone in my suffering, most times when I talk to someone they just wanna tell me to "tough it out" and "be a man".
Sorry, I'm in grief from my son dying in my arms and my chronic illness has taken a turn for the worse this year and I'm just [freaking] depressed all the [freaking] time.
Yet everyone wants me to continue my life and my job as if everything is honky dorey.
Men are expected to keep up unrealistic standards which are especially damaging in the long run. What’s worse is that it’s not an idea that comes completely from within — it’s the result of other men perpetuating it too. We know it best as 'toxic masculinity' and it goes on to affect women too.
Changing babies in public. Many men's rooms do not have baby changing stations.
Physical contact? If I feel like it if I need a hug, I can just cuddle with my girlfriends. I don't think it's that easy for guys...
Small thing but telling what a lotion/deodorant/body wash/shampoo smells like by the label. Women’s is just labeled like vanilla or lavender but men’s get dumb names like wolf hawk or champion.
Can I have wolf hawk champion beast slayer shamppoo for outside mountain woods, please? Most of this crap smells horrible. I personally prefer neutral soaps and shampoos.
Compliment any complete stranger. As a dude, I have to very careful complimenting strangers. I will actually tell my wife, “check her hair out, it’s super cool. Will you tell her?” And she will, and it made that stranger’s day. Just wish I could do that more often without being seen as creepy.
This especially applies to children. It’s a big no-no for a 41 year old guy to compliment a child saying they look super pretty. Woman - no issue.
If you sincerely compliment a woman (or anyone, really), by just saying 'hey, cool hair' and move along, I personally am way less likely to be creeped out than if someone stands too close and says something like 'hey, I don't mean to be creepy, but... your hair looks so soft...' the way people sometimes do. People have said to me 'hey, cool tattoos/makeup/whatever' while passing, without slowing down. As soon as someone lingers, I am creeped out.
Consoling a lost child in public (more to the perception of male threat, no matter how unfounded)
And men of colour get treated with particular suspicion. There’s an episode of Black-ish about it.
Getting their hand into a Pringle can.
Why reach into the can at all, your hand gets greasy and salty. Just lay can on its side and keep shaking them toward the opening.
Fun answer - Its easier for women to learn how to rock climb. Men will use their upper body strength as an early crutch and muscle their way up a wall, while women have to develop correct form and technique to do as well when first beginning. This leads to much better climbers from my observation.
Sad answer - physically abuse the opposite sex. Many times if a man is in a physically abusive relationship others will assume he isn't or can't be abused. There are numerous videos where actors has shown women hitting men in public and at best no one helps, some will even laugh. Switch the roles and everyone comes running to help a women being physically abused by aman.
BEING A SINGLE PARENT: my parents have been divorced since i was 6 (i’m 19F now) and my dad has always been the more stable parent in the situation so my siblings and i always lived with him and travelled with him as kids. TSA would always look at us weird and interview us kids about who we were traveling with, making sure we weren’t being kidnapped? or something? idk. people would look at our family weird in public every time we went anywhere. it’s hard to be a single dad these days for some reason but it makes no sense to me bc men are just as capable of parents as women are. one other example i can think of is the fact that a lot of men’s bathrooms don’t have changing tables for babies… like wtf? it’s honestly astonishing that society basically assumes that men are completely incapable of caring for a child smh.
Sit down on a chair without accidentally sitting on yourself.
Apparently women fighter pilots handle g-forces better than men, mainly due to being shorter and their heart not having to work so hard to pump blood to their brains (short men also handle g-forces easier for the same reason).
Tons of martial arts throws. Female center of mass is lower down in the body than male center of mass, even before accounting for height differences, and it's absolutely crucial to certain martial arts throws.
Like, you know that one throw you see all the time in movies where someone grabs a person from behind, and that person just leans forward and rolls them over their shoulder? Yeah that's almost impossible for most men to do unless the stunt person grabbing them is helping with it. But for your typical woman it's literally as easy as leaning forward, it takes basically no strength, it's all leverage.
I'm a man who practices mixed martial arts and four times out of five when I'm sparring a woman and I lose against her, it's because she threw me.
Binaural Hearing. Using headphones, play different recordings per ear which each contain mostly gibberish with the occasional intelligible word thrown in.
Women are consistently better at recognising the words, particularly when two intelligible words are played at the same time. Men have more difficulty with this.
The reason this experiment is fascinating and repeated many times is that cis women and trans* women perform just as well as each other, with trans* men and cis men together doing generally worse. We don't know why.
I'm not afraid of getting accidentally hit in my private parts. It can hurt, but not nearly as much as men I believe.
I have no idea what being kicked in the groin feels like but if I see it happen to a guy I cringe and feel sorry for the dude.
Here’s a fun one! Women are generally better at conserving air while scuba diving. I teach scuba and 95% of the time my female students could stay down twice as long on their first dive than their male counterparts.
It’s a big pick me up for so many tiny women who think all the heavy gear is going to set them back from the big muscular guys.
Find nice pieces of clothes full of colours. It is so hard being a man in many clothes stores. Next time you wonder why men are not interested in shopping clothes, look at the choices we have and the minimal amount of variety and fun in men clothes compared to women !
Why at weddings or parties, do women get to actually express their personality in their dresses, but men have to wear generic tuxes?
Distinguish between colors.
I can't find the reference now, but I once read an article where some fraudsters were sneaking into a conference with fake badges. The fake badges had a slightly different shade of color. Women could spot the difference, but men couldn't.
Shoot a gun. Women are willing to be taught and men think they already know how. Any gun instructor will tell you that women first time shooters are better than men.
In most instances I’ve personally as a man found women to be more self-aware and have a greater understanding of their emotions and how to identify their feelings. Not to say I don’t have male friends and acquaintances who possess these traits.
Daycare worker. Really any profession to do with kids
It's kind of a shame that all the workers in my younger kid's nursery and all the teachers in my older kid's primary school are female. They are all perfectly good at their job, and they are great with my kids, but it would be nice to have a few more male role models in their lives.
Touch your friends I think
Yha, it is easy for girls to touch both genders without hesitation and no one misunderstands it.
Gaining sympathy sometimes
"Just man up" doesn't really help
Neither does "Suck it up, buttercup." My old manager, a woman, said this frequently. A thoroughly unpleasant person.
Ask for help.
Men can have problems with abuse, rape, etc. as much as women. Men, if you need help, this is a sign to go and get it. Everyone needs help, we aren’t perfect and if anyone you love is hurting, don’t worry, you will find a way out. 🙂❤️
Read people.
I don’t mean auras or anything woo. I mean READ people and read rooms. I’m not saying men don’t do it but every woman I know does this. We’ve always had to I think. Our instincts have to be attuned even if we don’t always heed them
Women have better fine motor control. People who assemble circuit boards that are to small and delicate for a machine to complete are predominantly women. I've also heard they pick up things like flying helicopters faster as well.
Thrift shopping. Aint nothing in the mens section but 2007 fun run t shirts in bright neon colors.
Survive the NICU -- apparently, girls do much better in the NICU than boys do and tend to have fewer health complications. We heard that time and time again as parents to a 29 weeker girl.
Floating. It’s a fact because women’s fat is deposited differently in our bodies, mainly in our thighs. My husband tries to float but instantly sinks whereas I can just float all day long. Exception is if your a bigger male with a lot of fat around your thighs
Sales. Seriously females salespeople are on average much more successful than their male counterparts. In my industry (industrial sales), it's an open understanding that our typical sales contact (older middle-aged male) is much more interested in talking to females than males. Huge sales buff if you are young AND at least a little attractive.
If you are a hard working, quick witted and social young female looking for a high paying job without education requirements, I would strongly encourage you to look into B2B sales. All of the technical knowledge you can learn on the job.
Selling can also be very stressful and emotionally draining. Keep in mind :)
Get complimented.
Yeah but for what. I got complimented for how handy I am because I knew how to hold wrench. I did not get complimented (or appreciated) for being only one in international company willing to test hundreds of servo motors coming back on warranty in terrible conditions trying to find out what really happened before other s**t happened (when motors stopped working mostly they were thrown on side, sprayed with water with open connecting holes and I was supposed to find out if warranty applied and if they were handled correctly, that often meant connecting them to power and having them literally explode). But sure I know how to hold wrench, thanks...
Note: this post originally had 43 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
Prove that gender equality would also improve men's lives
Its funny how the sexists who whine about "feminism doesnt care about men" are the ones downvoting you for caring about men
hear hear!
While I strongly disagree with some of them I find this article super important. Sexism affects negatively both sexes and its time that people realise. Men deserve to live in a society that allows them to express fear and sadness, to be caring with friends and family, and to not be treated as an emotionless person.
and it's also important to notice sexism not only comes from men, but also women, in the sense that, bs like "men only wear blue" is not only passed from men to their sons, but also from their moms. I mean, it goes both direction, female and male stereotypes are reinforced by both men and women.
Internalised sexism is a thing
Because mens' feelings are only valid if you agree with them. Maybe take a long hard look at yourself.
Acknowledging mens difficulties like I did is now invalidating their feelings? Maybe somebody needs to starr reading before answering
But only when you agree with them.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Excuse me, in what kind of messed up backwards world do you live, where men are not allowed to express fear or sadness or to be caring with friends and family? Is that the same backwards world where all women are giggling and spinny-dressed?
Its called planet earth. Maybe it sounds familiar
Broaden your perspective a little. Your lifestyle isn't the whole world. In most places and cultures, men aren’t encouraged to express their emotions and vulnerability. I am glad the men in your life get to express themselves and be happy; we would like for men everywhere else to receive the same opportunity.
It's a world called reality. Look up the term 'toxic masculinity ' or 'machismo'. It is extremely hard for men to express emotions other than anger and not be judged for it by society, family, or friends.
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Wow, then I guess I don't live in the real world, since the men I know are perfectly capable of showing they love their friends and family or let others know they're sad or distressed. Tell me, does the "real world" you talk about also have such thing as "femininity" and are women in your real world all friends and girly and cute and sweet and nurturing?
Kind of unrelated but I remember one time when I was at a pool, there were large dressing rooms for everyone (so no separate stalls), only separated by sex. In comes this dad with his little daughter, maybe three years old, while I was there with my the female half of my class of teenagers getting undressed. The dad had his back turned towards us the entire time though, but at that time we were weirded out by this man, why couldn't he just have gone into the men's dressing room? But now, many years later, I figured he probably just chose what he thought was best for his daughter at that time. I'm not sure whether I would've done the same thing had I been a mom with a young son (or a dad with a young daughter), but I guess that only proves my point that it's different for men to be in this kind of situation. I feel kinda bad about how I reacted to that situation (we didn't say anything but I think we threw looks).
Yeah. Me and my partner had the same. We took out once his nieces when they were very young. They still needed help to wash their hands and not make a mess. My partner couldnt take them to the mens bathroom (urinals and penises everywhere) but couldnt enter the womens one. And back then I spoke next nothing of their language so it was very difficukt for me to help them. Its absurd. We need gender neutral bathrooms with closed stalls.
I think the 'penises everywhere' argument is what drove the father to go to the womens' dressingroom, which I guess is also part of the problem because vagina's are inherently safe and penises aren't, or something?
Well since they are girls it makes sense that they are more comfortable in a womans dressing room. I imagine that if it was a boy t would be the other way around.
At ~3 years old I don't think they care much either way.
The little girls don't, but the father probably has a fair idea what could happen to the little girls.
Honestly, I would’ve felt unsafe too if I were in the same situation as you, but also understanding of the man’s situation.
Yeah it was a weird situation, but like I said, I'm not sure what I would've done had I been in his shoes. Probably drag either son or daughter into the womens' dressingroom, because of the reason mentioned by Ozacoter, but that being the reason is an issue in itself.
I remember growing up and using the locker rooms at the public pool, if a father had a girl who was too young to go through the female locker room solo, he’d take her through the make room. Likewise a mother with a boy too little to solo the male locker room. I didn’t like it, but it bothered me a lot less than a MOTOS parent coming into my locker room with a MOTSS child. What kind of person worries a room full of random guys are going to assault his three year old daughter in front of him in a public space? Why is he bothering to escort her if he can’t protect her? If guys are so dangerous, that just reinforces the notion that men aren’t supposed to go into women’s locker rooms in the first place.
Prove that gender equality would also improve men's lives
Its funny how the sexists who whine about "feminism doesnt care about men" are the ones downvoting you for caring about men
hear hear!
While I strongly disagree with some of them I find this article super important. Sexism affects negatively both sexes and its time that people realise. Men deserve to live in a society that allows them to express fear and sadness, to be caring with friends and family, and to not be treated as an emotionless person.
and it's also important to notice sexism not only comes from men, but also women, in the sense that, bs like "men only wear blue" is not only passed from men to their sons, but also from their moms. I mean, it goes both direction, female and male stereotypes are reinforced by both men and women.
Internalised sexism is a thing
Because mens' feelings are only valid if you agree with them. Maybe take a long hard look at yourself.
Acknowledging mens difficulties like I did is now invalidating their feelings? Maybe somebody needs to starr reading before answering
But only when you agree with them.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Excuse me, in what kind of messed up backwards world do you live, where men are not allowed to express fear or sadness or to be caring with friends and family? Is that the same backwards world where all women are giggling and spinny-dressed?
Its called planet earth. Maybe it sounds familiar
Broaden your perspective a little. Your lifestyle isn't the whole world. In most places and cultures, men aren’t encouraged to express their emotions and vulnerability. I am glad the men in your life get to express themselves and be happy; we would like for men everywhere else to receive the same opportunity.
It's a world called reality. Look up the term 'toxic masculinity ' or 'machismo'. It is extremely hard for men to express emotions other than anger and not be judged for it by society, family, or friends.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Wow, then I guess I don't live in the real world, since the men I know are perfectly capable of showing they love their friends and family or let others know they're sad or distressed. Tell me, does the "real world" you talk about also have such thing as "femininity" and are women in your real world all friends and girly and cute and sweet and nurturing?
Kind of unrelated but I remember one time when I was at a pool, there were large dressing rooms for everyone (so no separate stalls), only separated by sex. In comes this dad with his little daughter, maybe three years old, while I was there with my the female half of my class of teenagers getting undressed. The dad had his back turned towards us the entire time though, but at that time we were weirded out by this man, why couldn't he just have gone into the men's dressing room? But now, many years later, I figured he probably just chose what he thought was best for his daughter at that time. I'm not sure whether I would've done the same thing had I been a mom with a young son (or a dad with a young daughter), but I guess that only proves my point that it's different for men to be in this kind of situation. I feel kinda bad about how I reacted to that situation (we didn't say anything but I think we threw looks).
Yeah. Me and my partner had the same. We took out once his nieces when they were very young. They still needed help to wash their hands and not make a mess. My partner couldnt take them to the mens bathroom (urinals and penises everywhere) but couldnt enter the womens one. And back then I spoke next nothing of their language so it was very difficukt for me to help them. Its absurd. We need gender neutral bathrooms with closed stalls.
I think the 'penises everywhere' argument is what drove the father to go to the womens' dressingroom, which I guess is also part of the problem because vagina's are inherently safe and penises aren't, or something?
Well since they are girls it makes sense that they are more comfortable in a womans dressing room. I imagine that if it was a boy t would be the other way around.
At ~3 years old I don't think they care much either way.
The little girls don't, but the father probably has a fair idea what could happen to the little girls.
Honestly, I would’ve felt unsafe too if I were in the same situation as you, but also understanding of the man’s situation.
Yeah it was a weird situation, but like I said, I'm not sure what I would've done had I been in his shoes. Probably drag either son or daughter into the womens' dressingroom, because of the reason mentioned by Ozacoter, but that being the reason is an issue in itself.
I remember growing up and using the locker rooms at the public pool, if a father had a girl who was too young to go through the female locker room solo, he’d take her through the make room. Likewise a mother with a boy too little to solo the male locker room. I didn’t like it, but it bothered me a lot less than a MOTOS parent coming into my locker room with a MOTSS child. What kind of person worries a room full of random guys are going to assault his three year old daughter in front of him in a public space? Why is he bothering to escort her if he can’t protect her? If guys are so dangerous, that just reinforces the notion that men aren’t supposed to go into women’s locker rooms in the first place.