Women carry for less: body size, pelvis width, loading position and energetics

The energetic cost of walking varies with mass and speed; however, the metabolic cost of carrying loads has not consistently increased proportionally to the mass carried. The cost of carrying mass, and the speed at which human walkers carry this mass, has been shown to vary with load position and load description (e.g. child vs. groceries). Additionally, the preponderance of women carriers around the world, and the tendency for certain kinds of population-level sexual dimorphism has led to the hypothesis that women might be more effective carriers than men. Here, I investigate the energetic cost and speed changes of women (N = 9) and men (N = 6) walking through the woods carrying their own babies (mean baby mass = 10.6 kg) in three different positions – on their front, side and back using the same Ergo fabric baby sling. People carrying their babies on their backs are able to maintain their unloaded walking speed (1.4 m/s) and show the lowest increase in metabolic cost per distance (J/m, 17.4%). Women carry the babies for a lower energetic cost than men at all conditions (p < 0.01). Further energetic and kinematic evidence elucidates the preponderance of back-carrying cross-culturally, and illustrates the importance of relatively wider bi-trochanteric breadths for reducing the energetic costs of carrying.