The real question, however, is whether boys would have reacted differently in the same circumstances.
In the first case, the woman clearly believed the punishment was unfair (We don’t know whether it was because we don’t know what caused her delay.)
How many boys would not have resented being caned (or otherwise punished) for a delay that they had no control over?
Does this raise a more general question about “attitudes to fairness”?
Unlike susceptibility to pain, “fairness” is a cultural concept.
Might it be the case that, in traditional households, boys were brought up to believe that the world was a rough-and-tumble place, and if you were dealt a bad hand then, well, tough; but that girls were taught much more about reciprocity and hence fairness? (Or, for that matter, vice versa?)