Why does gender matter when breaking boards?

In some dojos, the instructors believe that women are weaker so they give them thinner or smaller boards. BUT, there are many dojo's where your gender doesn't matter, everyone is given the same boards. I think this is what's fair, there shouldn't be any special treatment for women even if men are supposedly "stronger".

In an authentic traditional Dojo it doesn't matter what gender one is. Board breaking is just a personal test to see how far you've come and where you're at. Breaking isn't done with brute force but with proper technique. No one should ever "muscle" the process.

Traditional Okinawan Karate teaches Hojo Undo, or supplementary training. The practice of breaking boards is not to train but to demonstrate your own personal accomplishment. Male or female, the level of training should be the only variable, not muscle mass or brute strength.

In my dojang (I do taekwondo), females break thinner boards. However, we are required to be able to stretch further in the flexibility test :P

Men have the biological tendency to be stronger. It's also proven that women feel more pain than men, so even if a girl were to break the same size board, the boy's hand might be perfectly fine while the girl's hand could be in severe pain.

What J said...

IMO, it's just a traditional convention of society to present easier physical challenges for women in general. It's the old "men are physically superior" believe that everybody seems to take for granted.

Men are stronger than woman.