Adult Women Have the Physical Strength of a 13 Year Old Boy

Today, soon to be ex-President Obama, in an effort to promote women on the front lines in the military, stated that women are just as strong as men. And, people are publicly agreeing with him. Are they stuck in political correctness or have they never actually thought about it?

Let's think about it. An apples-to-apples comparison would be track and field events. Same playing field, same events, same equipment (for the most  part*).

For adults, I used the records of the University of Chicago track team. I compared the women's numbers to men of various ages found that the best match is with 13 year old boys. That's right, the typical college age woman has the physical ability of a 13 year old boy.

The numbers below are from the Harrisburg South Middle School's 8th grade boys track records, and are pretty typical for boys of that age.

The comparison gets even worse the older the boys get. Boy's high school track numbers are routinely better than the women's Olympic records in those events.  Florence Griffith-Joyner, for all her success in the Olympics, would be an also-ran on many boy's high school track teams.

If elite female Olympic athletes (that have had the best training possible) would have trouble competing physically with generic high school boys, how can we expect the typical woman to physically compete with men (including the enemy's men) in the military?

We can't and they won't. No more than a 13 year old boy would be able to physically compete with a grown man in the military.

If anyone suggested that we should induct 13 year old boys into the military and put them on the front lines, they would be laughed out of the room. Yet, isn't that what President Obama is suggesting? That we should induct someone with the physical ability of a 13 year old boy--an 8th grader--and put them in combat situations. Situations where their lack of physical strength will result in death--their own, their fellow soldiers, or both.

Women are physically weaker than men. Not by a little bit, but by a lot. It's not good or bad; it's just the way it is. The physical rigors of combat stress even the strongest of grown men, what will they do to someone that only has the physical strength of an 8th grade boy?


* The equipment used by men can be as much as twice as heavy as that used by women. Hence, I was unable to use the discus or shot put for comparison. I only used events where there was a true apples-to-apples comparison.

University of Chicago Women's track stats: http://static.psbin.com/f/v/etjwvp8voq66pt/wtf-outdoor-alltime.pdf

University of Chicago Men's track stats: http://static.psbin.com/s/i/x9lgyti0j1j4xn/mtf-outdoor-alltime.pdf

Harrisburg South Middle School 8th grade boys track stats: http://southmiddleschool.harrisburgdistrict41-2.org/?page_id=590