"I heard their periods attract bears. They can smell then menstruation!"
That's from the Will Ferrell movie Anchorman in case anyone was wondering, just a joke.
On a serious note this really stems back to a sociological issue which basically stereotyped men and women. Women were carers and looking after everyone where the men did the high risk work.
Lately this has been changing, for good and bad. For good: the acceptance of women in high ranking corporate roles, the fire and other emergency services, media and many other positions. This is mostly due to the world wars where women had to take over the dangerous work roles because the men were off fighting and this proved that women are far more capable than what they had been secluded too.
For bad: in the last few years there has been an increase in the number of females killed on the roads while the male toll has been decreasing. The number of female prisoners is increasing. The incidence if alcohol related crime is skyrocketing (around 40% of people detained by SAPOL are under the influcence), esepecially in young women/girls where violent crime has doubled. Men are still worse in all these areas, but it is interesting to see this increase in women.
To me, this might be an indicator of what's to come. I think the gendered stereotypes and 'sexual division of labour' is starting to fade away and men and women are becoming more alike.
