I know, a man really has no business writing about womens hiking boots. However, I am going to attempt anyways because the information I see out there, sorry no better way to say it, Sucks! When I began to research this article (obivisouly I don’t have first hand knowledge) all I could find was bits and pieces of information pertaining to womens hiking boots. So I dug a little deeper, consulted with the American Podiatry Association and skimmed through quite a few studies and this is what I came up with.
Ladies, your feet are different. Not just in appearance but structurally. All types of things have contributed to women’s feet evolving differently. Depending on what study you read, women’s feet evolved differently because of mate selection by prehistoric man or hormones and pregnancy. But anyways, women’s feet tend to be shorter, narrower and have a shorter instep than males. The balls of women’s feet are also wider and the heel tends to be narrower.
Because of the structure of a women’s pelvis their gait is different than males which causes a women’s foot to slightly pronate when walking. Also because of this difference in bio-mechanics, women tend to put more weight on the balls of their feet and toes while walking. Add this to uneven terrain, steep inclines and declines experienced by hiking and a women could experience an increased chance of discomfort and injury.
So what is a women to do? Not all boots are created equal. According to some female hikers I know there is not as many choices for females out there as males. Many of them have been tempted to just buy mens hiking boots a few sizes smaller then womens hiking boots. However this could be one mistake you don’t want to experience. Because of the difference in a woman’s foot compared to a male you should generally stay away from mens hiking boots. Also be very wary of purchasing womens hiking boots that have a male counterpart. Many of these boots have just been cut differently to give them a more feminine appearance then a mans.
I would also tend to stay away from the less known companies and go with a larger outdoor footwear manufacturer that has a better research and development budget. They will tend to develop womens hiking boots from the ground up rather then just base them on their male editions. One company I would check out would be Vasque. Vasque has many female athletes on their sponsored sport teams and employs their “Ultimate Fit: Women’s Specific” technology made just for women in their Vasque womens hiking boots and trail running shoes.
If you can find mens hiking boots that fit then by all means wear it. But based on the unique shape and anatomy of a woman’s foot you should really consider purchasing womens hiking boots made specially for you.
