Why is the weight on women's snowboards so low?

Mens vs womens snowboards?

• Why is their a gender in the board? If they are both 156 for example is the womens board made for less weight or is it the pictures printed are just advertised to women?

• Answer:

  Generally it has to do with the flex of the board/skis. Skis and boards have the same general principles to how they work, so no reason to not answer your question if it is in the wrong section. Beyond having more "girly" graphics/design to them, there are some important differences in the gear. While most guides talk about height as the determining factor in what size of ski/board to get, it is making an assumption on your weight based on averages for a specific height. So if you are under/over what would be considered "normal" for your weight, the guides will be wrong. With that in mind, an average 5'8 man weighs different than the average 5'8 woman. So while the height is the same, the weight is not. Heavier people need "less flex" as they have more weight to create the flex. Lighter people need more flex as they don't have enough body mass to create as much flex. So again, with that said, a womans board for a specific height will generally have more flex than that same height of mens board. There are also "uni-sex" skis/boards that basically just average them out and take a middle weight to base it on.