Topic summary
Female pelvis
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Pelvis.
Variation
Modern humans are to a large extent characterized by bipedal locomotion and large brains. Because the pelvis is vital to both locomotion and childbirth, the process of natural selection is constrained by two conflicting demands: a wide birth canal and locomotion efficiency, a conflict referred to as the "obstetrical dilemma". The female pelvis, or gynecoid pelvis, has evolved to its maximum width for childbirth—a wider pelvis would make human females unable to walk. In contrast, human male pelvises are not constrained by the need to give birth and therefore are more optimized for bipedal locomotion.