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Female heights and sexual dimorphism in Argentina: Data from inmates of a Buenos Aires prison, 1865–1952

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  • Salvatore, Ricardo D.

Abstract

This contribution examines new data on female heights extracted from records of a female prison near La Plata, Argentina. The data provides insights about the net-nutrition condition of lower-class women in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s wealthiest province. This data shows a remarkably poor growth in female stature: 1.8 cm over eight decades (from the 1870s to the 1940s). Yet Buenos Aires female prisoners were the tallest among a group of twelve Latin American countries. Their heights were equivalent to the 30th to 40th percentile of contemporary female standards of heights. This suggests that these women were relatively well-fed and relatively healthy. Compared with the heights of male prisoners, female heights seemed to have followed a similar path; in the long run the stature sexual gap remained rather stable.

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  • Salvatore, Ricardo D., 2026. "Female heights and sexual dimorphism in Argentina: Data from inmates of a Buenos Aires prison, 1865–1952," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:60:y:2026:i:c:s1570677x2600002x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2026.101572
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