The data from a large study of grip strength was made into a graph that shows "Almost all men are stronger than almost all women."

This graph is an excellent way to visualize gender difference in strength, and makes an excellent rebuttal to those who would minimize physical differences between men and women.


Study notes

Grip strength is an index of upper body strength. Each point is one person. Sample size = 7064.

Data are from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2012: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/nhanes2011-2012/overview_g.htm

NHANES is a representative sample of the US noninstitutionalized civilian resident population of the United States. It utilizes a complex, multistage, probability sampling design. The sizes of the symbols represent the sampling weights.

The grip strength variables are described here: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/2011-2012/MGX_G.htm

Controlling for age, height, and weight, the adult female mean is 23.3 kg less than the adult male mean (without controlling for height and weight, the female mean is 33.8 kg less than the male mean). Adult: 18-60. Some of the very low values are individuals with disabilities (this is a nationally representative sample).

In these NHANES data, 84% of adult men have a combined group strength that is greater than the 95% percentile for adult women. Grip strength is a decent proxy for upper and lower limb strength, and is also correlated with other indices of strength.