History Main / GenderRestrictedAbility

** Averted for transgender people who are BFAB. While not women, they are still able to carry and give birth.

** Averted for transgender people who are AFAB. While not women, they are still able to carry and give birth.

** In addition, only females can ride Pegasi, explained at one point as the weight (amusingly, generic enemy Pegasus knights count as male stats-wise). Another explanation claims that it's because it's hard enough for a woman to get her Pegasus to trust, while a man is incapable of gaining a pegasus' trust. In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'', the enemy pegasus knights are male, but they appear to have been {{retcon}}ned out of the series, as they're gone from the remake. ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' features indisputably male Sky Knights (read: Pegasus riders), capped off by a massive LampshadeHanging when Selena asks one of them about it. Said lampshade goes on to state that Pegasi are simply emotionally sensitive, and if you think one won't tolerate you, you make it so jittery it won't -- implying that the rest of the series (or at least ''Awakening'' and the modernized Archanea games, which it shares a world with) only think pegasus riding is female-only in a folkloric SelfFulfillingProphecy.
** In ''Shadow Dragon'', the spell Excalibur can only be used by men, and the spell Aura can only be used by women (despite it being used by a male character used it in the game's story). It is also noted that Falchion can only be wielded by male descendants of Anri, [[spoiler:though this is proven false when Lucina wields it in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'']].

* ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' makes a minor point of this near the end, where [[spoiler: Ulube]] is reading over the research notes about the Devil Gundam, explaining why Wong wanted Allenby to be its core. It's justified that since the Devil Gundam was meant to be the ultimate lifeform, it requires an organism capable of creating life, a woman, as its core. According to the show, the ability to give birth makes women the "top of all living things" and they have the most amount of energy.

* ''Almost'' the case with the [[AntiMagic Jordain]] in ''Literature/CounselorsAndKings''. Jordaini girls are almost always stillborn, so that the vast majority of actual Jordaini are men, but occasionally a Jordaini female will survive. Cassia, Jordain to [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure King Zalathorm]] is the only one we actually meet. [[spoiler: It turns out that [[ActionGirl Tzigone]], one of the main protagonists, is a Jordaini birth gone wrong, so she has the AntiMagic abilities even though she's not considered a Jordain]].

** There was never any kind of mystery about low numbers of male Dark Elves mages (which is "relatively" new lore by itself first with its first appearance being 6 edition). Most of them indeed are killed during childhood (as a person is born mage, not taught to be one) because of the prophecy. Still, in Hag Graef (second largest city) there are all-male covens of warlocks (though they are cursed by the king and thus have quite painful existence). Mages from outcast Shade clans are also usually male. As for Brettonia - children with magic abilities are given to (always female) priesthood of the state religion. Girls become priestesses while boys disappear. There are at least 3 versions of their fate -- older editions implied that they become servants of Wood Elves. In the infamous End Times books they apparently transformed into superhuman semi-elvish mage-knights who will serve Elven gods in a new world that will be created once the current one will be destroyed. Finally, according to an event in ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'' they become paladins.

* In the ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' games, only women are able to psychically control the energy of [[GreenRocks Ragnite]], and even then, they have to be descended from the titular PreCursors to do so. However, MugglesDoItBetter. The Valkyria, for all their power, wiped themselves out to the point that there's only about a handful left (spread out over all 5 games), most of which are named characters, one of which is a ReluctantMonster, [[spoiler: and, midway through the first game, one of them uses a DangerousForbiddenTechnique that destroys herself [[FantasticNuke and the surrounding city]]]]. Those that aren't [[spoiler:have the "honour" of being the [[PoweredByAForsakenChild forsaken children powering the Atlantic Federation's high-energy research program]]]]. Normal humans utilize Ragnite in much the same way we do oil. It's speculated that at the height of their power that this was not the case and Valkyrian men had their own powers, but nigh on 2,000 years of interbreeding with humans changed things. It's equally likely that Valkyrian men got shafted in the phenomenal cosmic powers department.

** Averted for transgender people that are AFAB. While not women, they are still able to carry and give birth.
* In both new world monkeys and prosimians, color vision is ''only'' present in some female individuals. This is because, for color vision, three different genes are required - two of which are in the X chromosome. For apes (humans included) and old-world monkeys, this is no big deal: each of our X chromosomes has room for both of these genes. But for other primates, there can only be one of these genes per chromosome, as they both occupy the same locus. This means only heterozygous female individuals can see in full color, males and homozygous females are all red-green colorblind.

Not so in fiction where your access to the [[MagicAndPowers supernatural powers]] or ability to use the AppliedPhlebotinum may depend on your gender. If so there are rarely any exceptions to this rule.

This trope doesn't apply to cultural gender divides, only to times when certain magic or supernatural powers are restricted to one gender. In the case of magic, sometimes the sexes will both have access to it, but [[FunctionalMagic use it in a fundamentally different way]] - in this case expect a case of UnequalRites as they disagree over which system is better. This trope is a common way of making a character a SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson.

May be handwaved by BizarreSexualDimorphism. Compare GenderRestrictedGear, mostly found in VideoGames. Supertrope to MagicIsFeminine.

* ''Literature/{{Kampfer}}'': Kampfers have to be female. When a Kampfer bracelet finds its way onto the wrist of a boy, it turns him ''[[SexShifter into]]'' a girl [[SuperGenderBender whenever he becomes a Kampfer]].
* ''Literature/LetsStartAnInnOnTheDungeonIsland'': In the new world, only women can use magic, nobody really knows why. When word gets out that the protagonist can use magic, he needs to have bodyguards because of the Victoria Era setting where he'd be very, very socially vulnerable, and ''everybody'' wants to exploit him.

* ''The Mage With Special Circumstances Wants To Live Peacefully'': Only men can be born with magic powers. Myth claims that TheMaker set things up this way to encourage chivalry towards women, but the story never gives a confirmed answer. The main protagonist, a woman who happens to be the only known exception to the rule, keeps her powers (or [[WholesomeCrossdresser her true sex]] depending on circumstances) a secret due to the risk of AllOfTheOtherReindeer or becoming a target for HumanTrafficking for her value as a BreedingSlave. Late into the story, it is revealed that women technically have magical power, they just cannot use it for some reason, they can only pass it down to their descendants. Women with massive amounts of magical power, including the main protagonist, are born with a PowerTattoo.

* ''Anime/{{Mnemosyne}}'': When a time spore enters a woman's body, she becomes immortal. When a time spore enters a man's body, he becomes [[spoiler:a mindless [[WingedHumanoid winged]] killer (called "angels") whose survival prospects are rather grim]]. The anime also is one of the few series to explore [[spoiler:how this affects intersex people. If a time spore enters one of them, [[HybridPower they get the best of both sides]], becoming immortal with the ability to fly and enhanced strength.]]

* ''Anime/PomPoko'': Only male tanuki can use their...testicles to fly and as weapons, as befitting Japanese mythology. Justified for obvious reasons.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' certain forms of magic (such as walking the moon's road) are exclusive to women; even a trans woman can't go. There was a passing reference to the Sandman example being based on chromosomes (the character who brought it up didn't know a whole lot about the subject) while WordOfGod suggests that the ancient deities and witches just can't get over some old prejudices; there is nothing that inherently prevents a biological male from practicing "female" magic, except a deity that can't get her head around the idea. As seen later on, Death feels no need for such discrimination.

* For the most part only women can wear the ComicBook/{{Witchblade}}, though there has been at least one male case.
* In PreCrisis [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] stories, Billy and Freddy got their powers from famous "gods" (Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), while ComicBook/{{Mary|Marvel}}'s came from six "goddesses" (Selene, Hippolyta, Ariadne, Zephyrus, Aurora, and Minerva). Functionally, however, they had all the same powers...even though they probably shouldn't have, since Mary's set sometimes provided gifts like "beauty" instead of things useful in a fight. (Also, yes, ignore the fact that [[GenderFlip Zephyrus was male in actual mythology]].) ComicBook/PostCrisis, Mary also gets her powers from the male set.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: As they were originally envisioned the Amazons all had lives prior to becoming immortal Amazons, in a ceremony implied to involve the magical spring on Paradise Island, however only women could become Amazons and men were unable to.

* ''Fanfic/TotalCommand'' is a ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' AlternateUniverseFic in which only women have quirks. So far, the only exceptions to this restriction happen to be Izuku and [[spoiler:All For One's Brother]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', only the females in Mei's family are granted the ability to turn into a giant red panda when they come of age. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen An early draft gave Mei a male cousin, named Leo, who could also transform into a red panda,]] but the Director's Commentary on the DVD says that in the final version, the ability is limited to Sun Yee's female descendants, making it currently unknown what happens to male descendants whenever they get highly emotional.

* ''Film/{{Thelma}}'': Thelma discovers that her paternal grandmother shared her powers. Her father doesn't though, implying they're only inherited by females.

[[folder:Folklore]]
* {{Unicorn}} mythology says that they [[VirginPower will only befriend virgin women]]. Not all modern authors keep this trait. See {{Unicorn}} and VirginPower tropes for details.
* Eastern Slavic mythology:
** Male users of demonic/unholy magic power can sometimes partially overpower the will of their supernatural masters and use their power for good. In very rare cases it was even possible for a vampire to be a sort of good guy who protects his homeland and people who live there from threats, supernatural ones in particular. That said, they are still doomed to go to hell after death as their souls still belong to Devil. In contrast, female witches are always slaves to the will of their masters.
** Only males can be born with magical powers. A woman must sell her soul to become a magic-user - and will still be weaker than a male mage. In fact, even the sorcery-associated god (who is male) of pre-Christianic times was believed to be rather misogynistic. In contrast, Eastern Slavic mythology also have a good number of very badass non-magical [[ActionGirl action girls]]. In other words, while for the most world [[MagicisFeminine magic is feminine]], [[RussianReversal in ancient Rus(sia) Magic is Manly]] while physical violence is gender-neutral. And yet, for whatever reason, in western fantasy Eastern Slavic-themed cultures often make a point of having either mostly female or outright female-only magic-users. Even worse - both Eastern Slavs and some native peoples of Siberia had a theme of female (but not male) magic being weakened/outright blocked by cold - but a generic western portrayal of supposedly Eastern Slavic-inspired spellcaster is very often a female [[IcePerson ice person]]. Makes one think where did this wrong but weirdly persistent idea even came from.
[[/folder]]

* Jean Auel's ''Literature/ClanOfTheCaveBear'' is a dual literary example. The Neanderthals featured in this novel live their lives along sharply divided gender lines, and due to how their brains are structured, cannot do otherwise. It's not tradition that says male Neanderthals hunt and females take care of the kids. Rather, they are literally hardwired into these roles and cannot function when taken out of them. Ayla, being a modern human, can and does, deeply disturbing them in the process. Yet, ''her'' jaw almost drops when she sees Jondalar, a man, cooking. Ironically, [[ScienceMarchesOn it's now believed]] that Neanderthals had ''less'' of a gender divide than Cro Magnons.
* In the world of ''Literature/MissEllicottsSchoolForTheMagicallyMinded'', only girls are capable of performing magic. [[spoiler:When Chantel is with the Council of Mages, however, she discovers that boys used to be able to perform magic too.]]
* An enforced case in Terry Goodkind's ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series.
** There are only female Confessors, but not because males can't get the power. It's because when a male has the power, it's a much ''stronger'' version, without the cool-down that female confessors have, and because of this they end up using said power to get everything they want. After the first generation of tyrannical male Confessors was dealt with, all male Confessor babies are killed shortly after birth.
** There's also differences between Wizard (male) magic power and Sorceress (female) magic power. In practical terms, they can do more or less the same things: throw wind, fire, and lightning around, create spell forms, etc. But they're stated to work differently, such that each gender doesn't properly "get" how the other works. At the Palace of the Prophets, for example, it takes several hundred years for the sorceresses to teach young wizards how to use their gifts properly, but it takes a ''much'' shorter amount of time for a male wizard to teach another male wizard.
* Zigzagged in Frank Herbert's ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' universe:

* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' has a great variety of differences between male and female channelers of the One Power. For instance, women draw from the ''saidar'' half of the Power, are able to gauge each other's PowerLevels by proximity, can initiate links with other channelers to combine powers, and typically have better mastery over Wind and Water. Men draw from the ''saidin'' half, can use Fire to take in and redistribute heat (women can only take it in and consequently burn themselves or even burst into flame), can naturally sense women channeling by way of goosebumps, are much stronger on average, and typically have better mastery over Fire and Earth. How various weaves are formed is also gender-dependent: women create Gateways by making two areas 'similar', whereas men bore holes into the fabric of space.
** As well, men and women approach control of their respective magics differently: women control ''Saidar'' subtly, gently encouraging it to do as they want, and lose control as soon as they try to force it to do something. Men, on the other hand, must seize ''Saidin'', controlling it by force and fighting against it, or they will be killed by it.
** Men and women can't even see the flows that the opposite sex channels most of the time, and can only block them by use of a special weave. Quite a lot of these distinctions is drawn from the philosophy of Yin ("soft" control, passiveness, air, water, etc.) and Yang ("hard" control, aggressiveness, fire, earth, etc.).
** Interestingly, we've seen [[{{Satan}} The Dark One]] resurrect two of the Forsaken in opposite-sex bodies, without any change in their power type or strength. So either souls have an innate sex or this is the ''[[EldritchAbomination Dark One]]'' we're talking about and further speculation is pointless.
* In Christopher Stasheff's ''Literature/WarlockOfGramarye'' series, psis on Gramarye have sex-linked powers -- Witches (women) are telekinetic, and Warlocks (men) can teleport and levitate themselves. The hero and his family are the only exceptions, due to not being entirely out of the same gene pool.
* Averted on the Literature/{{Discworld}}, at least in the areas where most stories featuring wizards and witches take place. Wizardry and witchcraft are separate forms of magic that are mostly gender divided, but this is a social split related to prejudices on both sides of the fence. Exceptions do exist, such as the early mention of wizards in Krull not caring much either way. It's suggested that [[MotherNatureFatherScience wizardry being systematic was more suited to men while witchcraft being initiative/emotional was more suited to women]]. Interestingly, despite her initial reservations, Granny Weatherwax is eventually convinced that Eskarina's mindset ''is'' wizard-like and that trying to shape it into witchcraft simply because she's female is a bad idea. Incidentally, both Granny and Archcancellor Ridcully have expressed the opinion that witchcraft/wizardry isn't primarily about magic, because magic is so easy that even wizards/witches can do it.
* Subverted in Kelley Armstrong's ''Literature/TheOtherworld''.

* Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/WitchWorld'' has female [[VirginPower virgin]] witches. They are shocked when Simon Tregarth, a man from another world, has the same powers. (And more shocked when a witch marries him and keeps her powers.)
* In Creator/AndreNorton and Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Literature/TheHalfbloodChronicles'', the female [[OurElvesAreDifferent elves]] have only weak magic compared to males. However, it's implied that the differences in magic are due to training rather than innate ability, as female elves in that society generally have little freedom, and are only taught "small" magic. There are brief mentions of powerful elven ladies who learn to wield magic in a masculine way. Also, some male elves have difficulty with using small practical magics commonly used by females simply because they haven't been trained in the same way.
* The original Literature/{{Earthsea}} trilogy featured mostly male wizards. In fact, there was a proverb "As weak as a woman's magic." Later books reveal that this is more of a cultural restriction, however.
* In ''Literature/AnnalsOfTheWesternShore,'' members of the Upland clans can be born with different magical abilities. In some clans, only one gender is empowered (only Caspro men can "unmake," only Barre women can control animals), while one clan is mentioned where men and women have different powers. However, both sexes can pass on the gift "gene" to their children.
* In ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'', in Lyra's world witches are a OneGenderRace, possessing magical tendencies and long life. Their male offspring (fathered by human males) are normal humans. Male witches did exist elsewhere in the multiverse, though they are only mentioned once.
* In ''First Literature/{{Lensman}}'', Mentor explains to Jill why it is impossible to create a Lens for a female. Mentor is lying his head off, as Clarissa will prove later in the series, but for the first couple books, that's how the Lens works. He's not exactly lying, given that he also outright tells her that there will at some point be a female Lensman. He doesn't, however, mention her daughters, who aren't ''technically'' Lensmen ... they just have all the powers even without having a lens and can generate their own out of thin air purely by thinking hard.
* In the ''Literature/SectorGeneral'' novels, Educator Tapes can't be tolerated by human females. This started as ValuesDissonance because the first book was written in TheFifties, but we [[RetCon later learn]] that it's a species restriction; ''alien'' females (those species that have females) can and do use them.
* The Archive of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' is always the daughter of the last Archive, so the title is self-continuing.
* In Creator/GarthNix's ''Literature/OldKingdom'' trilogy, the Clayr (prophets who live in the glacier) are almost all women; the rare occurrence of male Clayr are seen as anomalies. Plus Clayr who choose to have children with men generally always have daughters.
* In Anne Bishop's ''Literature/BlackJewels'' saga, female magic is almost always more potent than men's. Ranking within the Jewels can extend to Queen for females, whereas male ranking extends only to Warlord Prince. However, the magical power depends on the darkness of the jewel of an individual.
* Holy spellcasters in ''Literature/TheBannedAndTheBanished'' get their powers either from the god Chi (for males) or the goddess Cho (for females.) The two deities are equally powerful, but Chi splits his power among a large number of casters, while Cho only gives her power to one woman at a time. This means that female casters can store twice as much {{Mana}} and have access to three times as many spells.
* ''Almost'' the case with the [[AntiMagic Jordain]] in ''Literature/CounselorsAndKings''. Jordaini girls are almost always stillborn, so that the vast majority of actual Jordaini are men, but occasionally a Jordaini female will survive. Cassia, Jordain to [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure King Zalathorm]] is the only one we actually meet. [[spoiler: It turns out that [[ActionGirl Tzigone]], one of the main protagonists, is a Jordaini birth gone wrong, so she has the AntiMagic abilities even though she's not considered a Jordain]].
* In the ''Literature/ThievesWorld'' series, only men can become mages. There are, however, indications that this is a social restriction with no inherent basis.
* In ''Literature/OnStrangerTides'' by Creator/TimPowers, it is mentioned that some kinds of magic are only available to men and others only to women. One of the villains is a sorcerer who has access to both kinds, having figured out how to identify a woman with strong magical potential, marry her, then use the marriage bond to gain control over her magic.
* In ''Literature/ThreeDaysToNever'' by Creator/TimPowers, one of the characters is a sorcerer who, it turns out, was born female and went to extreme lengths to gain access to male magic.
* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''[[Literature/{{Genome}} Dances in the Snow]]'', FTLTravel is fatal to women (at least, human women). The reasoning for this is never explained. However, the only way for women to go to other planets is by becoming a HumanPopsicle. This also leads to a lot of sexism, particularly from starship crews, who derogatorily refer to women as "cargo". At the end of the novel, it's mentioned that a genetic cure has been found to allow future women (not the ones being subjected to gene therapy but their children) to survive FTL travel and even become pilots. None of this is mentioned in the original novel ''Genome'' (''Dances in the Snow'' is its prequel), where GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke, so this is no longer an issue (two of the main characters are women and have no problems surviving space travel).
* In Vadim Panov's ''Literature/SecretCity'':

* In ''If I Pay Thee Not In Gold'' by Creator/MercedesLackey and Creator/PiersAnthony, only the women in Mazonia have magic (of conjuration). As a result, all men are either slaves or treated as second-class citizens if they've been set free.
* In Creator/SheriSTepper's world of Literature/{{The True Game}}, several of the Talents are gender-limited, or at least rare in one or another sex. Healers and Midwives, for example, appear to be mostly female, while Armigers, Sentinels, and possessors of Necromantic Talents appear to be mostly male. Harpies and Queens are of course always female, while Kings and Princes are of course always male. (Though given that many women amongst the Gamesmen are encouraged to hide or deemphasize their talents, it's hard to know how common certain talents really are amongst them.)
* In ''Literature/KronikiDrugiegoKregu'' only boys are believed to be born with magic. It's later SubvertedTrope with the introduction of Jagoda (a very powerful female [[{{Telepathy}} Observer]]) and as the series goes on, more and more girls with magical abilities are discovered. They remain much rarer than male mages though, which makes them (especially Jagoda) very good candidates for the SuperBreedingProgram.
* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/StormOverWarlock'', the Wyverns who can dream are all female. They are surprised to find males who can dream even among humans, and despite their marginal acceptance of that, Thorvald appoints Charis in ''Literature/OrdealInOtherwhere'' to be the person actually dealing with them, as a female.
* Among human wizards in the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series males have an affinity for the elements of fire and earth, while females have an affinity for [[WaterIsWomanly water]] and air. This generally doesn't matter much, except in ''Wizards Abroad'', when the characters have to deal with {{Empathic Weapon}}s which are embodiments of the four elements.

* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', the Thorburn and Duchamp families base their ancestry around being female. In the case of the Duchamps, this involves becoming a OneGenderRace using magic and birth control to ensure that they bear no male children, while the Thorburns simply designate a sole female as the heir to their lineage. Rose Thorburn, the current heir, has command of the Thorburn voice, which she uses to command respect from supernatural creatures, while her DistaffCounterpart Blake handles the physical aspects like making ritual diagrams.
* ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'' - golden (queen) dragons will only Impress on women and bronzes only on men. For other colors, general rules exist, but exceptions can be found.
* Male Hradani in Creator/DavidWeber's Literature/TheWarGods series suffer from the Rage, which, until it's later learned to be controlled and directed, turns them into bloodthirsty berserkers. Female hradani do not experience the Rage (and as a result are the default gender for hradani judges and diplomats). The Rage was imposed on the hradani by the evil wizards who enslaved them; apparently those wizards wanted their female slaves producing warriors instead of being warriors. [[CursedWithAwesome The flipside]], however, is that while in the Rage they are essentially immune to all but the most powerful magic, making them a dire threat to most magic users on the battlefield who they will instinctively attack.
* In ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan'' only has a few female vampires, and no female vampaneze. Although it is easily possible to turn women into vampires, it is rare. Arra Sails, a female vampire, once said that vampires can't bear children, which is a bigger problem for women than for men.
* The German booklet series ''Maddrax'' has [[ActionGirl the women of the 13 islands]]. Almost all of them are [[PsychicPowers telepathically gifted]], but men rarely have this ability. This is one reason why their folk are a {{matriarchy}}.
** Men from the 13 islands can be quite [[TheEmpath empathic]], but also this is not common.
** There are, however, also the [[{{Ratmen}} taratzes]], which is a species of mutated giant rats. They are stronger, faster, and more resilient than humans, but usually not particularly smart. The [[GeniusBruiser taratze kings]] are an exception, however, and in the entire series of books, a taratze queen has never been seen.
* ''Literature/TheSilerianTrilogy'': Before the conception of [[spoiler: Baran and Mirabar's daughter]], we only hear of male water magic users. There is a reason they're named "waterlords" after all. No "waterladies" appear or are mentioned.
* In the Creator/JackieFrench novel ''Oracle'', the narrator is a child acrobat. When he hits puberty, his body becomes bulkier and traditionally masculine, putting him out of a job. (Although his male mentor didn't have this problem.)
%%* In the ''Literature/TairenSoul'' series
* In ''Literature/CaptainFrenchOrTheQuestForParadise'', the women of planet Corinth have a special ability that involves them going into a trance and then being able to precisely determine their soulmate. Over the generations, the men have learned not to argue with this prediction, as results have spoken for themselves (a side effect is the lowest level of marital infidelity in all of human space). The ability is real, but the origins are veiled in mystery, usually dating back to the planet's settlement by humans. The most popular legend involves a special native flower, which is claimed to be the source of the women's prescience, but which wilts away when a man lays his eyes upon it, even from far away. According to the story, the latter reason is why the flower is now extinct and why only descendants of the original colonists have the ability.
* In [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness later]] ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'' novels, only female Dark [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Others]] can become witches. The witches are CloserToEarth and tend to rely on amulets than straight-up spells. However, they also rather quickly become old hags and are forced to use magic almost constantly to maintain their HotWitch appearance. In the final novel of the main series, it's revealed that witches were the third type of Others to appear in the world, back during the Stone Age, after vampires and shapeshifters. They started wearing amulets in the form of jewelry to protect them from men, and {{Muggle}} women then picked up the jewelry-wearing fashion for the same reason (i.e. if a man isn't sure that a jewelry-wearing woman isn't a witch, he won't try to assault her).

* ''Literature/TheArtsOfDarkAndLight'':
** In Selenoth, Elves of both sexes are magical beings, with a much higher incidence of innate sorcery than any human race, but the magical potential of female elves is [[VirginPower tied to their maidenhood]]. Male elves appear to have no such limitations, nor do human wizards of either sex.
** The sworn brothers of the [[MageKiller Michaeline Order]] in Amorr are recruited from boys born with the supernatural, ostensibly God-given ability to see and dispel magic. The Order is traditionally male since no girl has ever been known to possess such gifts, though there is InUniverse debate on whether such a girl should be accepted as a Michaeline sister if one was found.
* ''Literature/TheCourtshipOfPrincessLeia'': For some reason, Allya's descendants only could use the Force if they were female since no one had seen a "male Witch" as they call it until Luke. Given that Force ability is hereditary, perhaps in her case, it was carried solely by the female sex chromosomes (though it would be an outlier as this is never seen in any other case of Force sensitives)
* In ''Literature/TheBloodLadders'' female magic works within the body (healing and transformation) while male magic works externally (mostly telekinesis). This is given as a reason why mermaids (elves using transformation magic) tend to be female, and why elf warriors are always male (though some were assigned female at birth).
* ''Literature/TheBarbarianAndTheSorceress'': Barnabus tells Rom only men have the intellect to learn sorcery. He's quite wrong, however, as Kira picked it up while helping him learn from ancient scrolls.
* The Andalites in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' show that male Andalites have larger tail blades, which allows them to attack opponents more effectively in combat. The Andalites who are ''Estreens'' and are much better at morphing than other Andalites tend to be female. Male estreens are not unheard of, but rare.
* ''Literature/ThePower'': The electricity-generating skein organ is apparently linked to having double X chromosomes, as only cisgender females plus a few intersex males get it.
* ''Literature/FatesParallel'': Of a sort. In cultivation, what matters most is if someone is yang-aligned or yin-aligned. The overwhelming majority of men are yang, and women are yin (at least for humans). Trying to learn or use techniques of the wrong alignment is dangerous and difficult, usually requiring completely rewriting the technique from base principles. Since the GodEmperor of the Qin is male, he taught his entire country the yang-aligned version, and through a self-reinforcing tradition of sexism, no one ever bothered to develop the yin-aligned version, meaning yin-aligned cultivators can't get strong enough to change anything. Lee Jia is, with the help of a master mage and a master cultivator working together, able to slowly adapt yang-aligned techniques for herself.
* ''Literature/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'': {{Downplayed}}. Female mages are able to use their wombs as an emergency battery of mana, which can give them an edge in {{Wizard Duel}}s. It's not a decisive edge, though, since magical strength is very much dependent on the individual: on average, male and female mages' capabilities are about equal.
* ''Literature/ShatterTheSky'': Only a girl of the Verran people can become the Prophet, as their people are mystically linked with the dragons who provide this gift. Even then, only a few actually can do it.
* ''Literature/{{Dragonvarld}}'': Humans with dragon magic use it differently depending on their gender. Females only use it defensively, males offensively. There is one exception in Marcus, who can do both. It affects them differently as well. Females have a temporary weakness which comes from doing magic. Males, however, are usually driven mad by it. [[spoiler:However, by selective breeding Grald now has males who remain mentally stable whom he's raised to serve as elite soldiers along with the woman, making up a whole army.]]

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Slayers are always young girls. Averted with witchcraft: though most practitioners are female, there are male users. Giles borrowed the power of an entire coven to take on Dark Willow, Angel, and Xander are both shown to use spells, Oz and several frat boys accidentally summon the demon of fear, and there are a few guys in UC Sunnydale's Wicca group. On the other hand, there are no real prominent good male dedicated spellcasters on the show to contrast with Willow, Tara, and even Jenny Calendar. There are powerful but not "good" male spellcasters such as Rack, Ethan, and Jonathan.
** However, there are quite a few exceptions. In the third season, there is a warlock named Michael, who is not very powerful but is good.
** Jonathan was a villain, but not one who was [[HarmlessVillain evil or dangerous]].
** In the comics there is also Clive, who is a warlock and the spiritual leader of a witchcrow.
** In ''Series/{{Angel}}'' there is also a group of powerful beings who occasionally determine someone as their ''champion'', to fight against evil. The respective champions are almost always demons (at least partially), and almost always male.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' 2011 Christmas special, "[[Recap/DoctorWho2011CSTheDoctorTheWidowAndTheWardrobe The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe]]", [[spoiler:only women are deemed strong enough to carry the whole Forest's essence in their head]].
* In ''Witchslayer Gretl'' it is noted that magic-users are almost always female, with warlocks being so rare that they are practically anomalies; Hansel at one point states that, in all of his years of witch hunting, he had never encountered even one warlock prior to the events of the story.
* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime2021'': Magic (the One Power) is divided strictly by gender here. Only women touch Saidar, the female half, as only men touch Saidin, the male half. Touching Saidin leads to eventual insanity because it was tainted by the Dark One, which caused the Breaking of the World. The episode ''Saidin, Saidar, Stone'' of ''The Wheel of Time: Origins'' animation says that Saidin and Saidar require vastly different techniques (a very important point in the books, as well as their different specializations), but it hasn't come up in season 1.
* ''Series/ThePower2023'': The electricity powers are mostly exclusive to women or girls, as people soon realize. However it turns out Ryan, who's intersex but identifies as a man, also has it. Ryan guesses that it's due to higher estrogen levels in his body.

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]

* Christian mythology (ie, the kind of [[{{Heresy}} stuff]] you'd find in the ''Literature/MalleusMaleficarum'' and only tangentially related to the teachings of the Bible) holds that magic can be practised by both sexes, but women tend to go for it more because men have the Lion's Share (pun not intended) of God's grace. Women, being (supposedly) less blessed, tend to go [[DealWithTheDevil elsewhere]].

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', the series of enhancements used to create a SpaceMarine is only usable on men. {{Justified|Trope}} since the enhancements are based on the biology of the Primarchs, who were all men because they were cloned from the Emperor. Older source material also stated that acceptance of the implants and the ensuing muscle growth required the increased testosterone output in men.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' both the Dark Elves and Bretonnians only have female magic users. Whether this is a cultural or natural restriction depends on who you ask; males of other factions are perfectly able to use magic, but each faction [[FunctionalMagic accesses and uses magic in a different way]]. In at least some versions of the fluff, the lack of male Dark Elf wizards was related to a prophecy that one of them would topple the [[EvilOverlord immortal Dark Elf king]]. Obviously, male study of magic was not encouraged. Regardless, some versions of the fluff (such as the 7th edition Dark Elves book) implies that there ''are'' male sorcerers, who obviously conduct their work in secret (and get customers from those nobles who don't want to owe Morathi and her minions a favor).
** There was never any kind of mystery about low numbers of male Dark Elves mages (which is "relatively" new lore by itself first with its first appearance being 6 edition). Most of them indeed are killed during childhood (as a person is born mage, not taught to be one) because of the prophecy. Still, in Hag Graef (second largest city) there are all-male covens of warlocks (though they are cursed by the king and thus have quite painful existence). Mages from outcast Shade clans are also usually male. As for Brettonia - children with magic abilities are given to (always female) priesthood of the state religion. Girls become priestesses while boys disappear. There are at least 3 versions of their fate - older editions implied that they become servants of Wood Elves. In the infamous End Times books they apparently transformed into superhuman semi-elvish mage-knights who will serve Elven gods in a new world that will be created once the current one will be destroyed. Finally, according to an event in ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'' they become paladins.
** Interestingly, some fans of ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'' have a misconception that Elven mages in general are almost exclusively female. Sometimes one can even hear that Teclis being a male archmage is an extremely unusual thing. This is completely wrong - while Dark Elves have female prevalence among mages due to their king's paranoia, among Wood Elves both male and female mages are equally common. High Elven mages are usually male; in fact, the only female spellcaster of importance is the Everqueen, who is not even an archmage in usual meaning. Earlier edition explained that by stating that outside of Avelorn (Everqueen's queendom), High Elves find the general idea of women on the battlefield to be "barbaric", which created interesting contrast with their Dark cousins. For some strange reason, in ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'' ''every single'' Elven mage (with the exception of DE king, said archmage Teclis and a guy who use an amulet to cast spells) is female, which led some people to believe this being the case in lore as well.
* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' features the Qedeshah bloodline, a motherly lineage that draw their origins from a group of temple prostitutes. Part of their bloodline-specific curse is that after joining the bloodline, they can only Embrace females. Attempts to Embrace men result in the man experiencing agonising, incapacitating pain for 24 hours before they expire horribly, the Qedeshah "mother" suffering a portion of this pain through the sympathetic connections of their shared blood. Men are not barred from joining the bloodline from outside the family tree, but upon doing so their vitae is rendered sterile and they can no longer Embrace childer or create ghouls, earning them the position of eunuch.
** The Yagnatia bloodline appears to be patriarchal to outsiders. In fact, the female vampires of the bloodline are in charge, because due to the influence of a powerful witch on the bloodline's originator, only they can perform the ritual that allows Yagnatia vampires to perform the Embrace (if they try it without the ritual, all they get is a corpse).
* In ''TabletopGame/WitchGirlsAdventures'', unsurprisingly, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin only females can be witches]]. Though they have a male counterpart in the Immortals. Though female characters with the Half-Otherkin heritage can be half-Immortal, although they're outnumbered 10 to 1 by the males. (Immortals are fond of joking about how their progenitors weren't ''quite'' as sexist.)

** Also, the only Vistani to be gifted with the Sight are females. This is because [[spoiler: a long-ago prophecy warned them that a male Seer would one day become the dreaded [[AntiChrist Dukkar]] and destroy their people, so they kill any male offspring that develop the Sight]].
* In ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' only female drow are trained to be priestesses. Male drow could also learn the magic, but in the [[{{Matriarchy}} company of the drow]] men are not worth much.
** Actually, drow see arcane magic (which has higher power potential than divine) as more suited to males. Thus being a mage is one of the few ways for a man to achieve power in their oppressively matriarchal society. Now, a mage with too much potential will probably won't be allowed to live long enough to reach it, but still.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': Shardra Geltl, the [[Characters/PathfinderIconics Iconic Shaman]], is from a family whose shamanic abilities always ran down the female line. [[SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson Shardra is transgender, which let her inherit them despite having been assigned male at birth.]]

* In ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'', only the female Skrall have psionic powers. However, it turns out that [[spoiler:these were given to them by an EldritchAbomination purely for its own amusement, and are not a natural ability at all.]]

* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, only Fey women can be spirit mediums. This actually causes massive social damage to the Fey clan - because the Fey family holds their spiritual powers so highly, their men feel ''deeply'' unappreciated, and their home village of Kurain has one of the highest divorce rates in the country. (Maya implies that her young cousin Pearl hasn't seen a successful relationship in her ''life''.)
** In the crossover game ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonVsPhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', only women can be witches. No explanation is given for why this is or how it works, [[spoiler:and given TheReveal that magic is a mass-hypnosis-induced sham, there may just not be a reason at all.]]

** ''VideoGame/CurseCrackersForWhomTheBelleToils'' gives more information about mages. In the world of Ledamra, there are seven different races of people gifted by the seven Scales (including the aforementioned monsters), as well as the Ungifted, who resemble normal humans. However, only the female gifted [[spoiler:and possibly Ungifted who are descended from gifted]] can use magic. This might be because the Scales and their creator were all female.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea}}'' games have many Evilities that only affect a certain gender in both positive and negative ways. Later games also give male and female versions of the same class different abilities and skills.
* The Sorceress power in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' is only passed down through women, with each woman passing the power to someone else upon her death (it appears that it's usually the closest woman, so long as she holds the proper potential). This power is the central focus of the game, as every Sorceress is powerful enough to change the course of the world or control the fabric of reality itself. An in-universe legend posits that the Sorceress power is really the immortal spirit of a god who'd once gone to war with humanity and lost, and escaped by hiding himself in the body of something mankind instinctually wants to protect: women.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', only female characters can be dancers, and only male characters can be bards. This is in spite of the fact that ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', which used a similar class-changing system, had no such restriction. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' wasn't restricted, either, so now we have to deal with [[{{Squick}} Galka flamenco dancers.]] Thanks a ''lot'', SE.
** ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'' had something similar for Bards and Dancers.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' and ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2 A2]]'', the [[AntiDebuff status effect preventing]] Ribbon accessory can only be worn by female characters. In A2 that means only [[OneGenderRace Viera, Gria,]] Adelle, [[OptionalPartyMember and]] [[spoiler:Frimelda]], but Humes, Bangaa, and Nu Mou can learn a passive ability that lets them wear one anyway. In ''Advance'' all generic teammates but [[OneGenderRace Viera]] have AmbiguousGender so only Viera and Ritz (who is a Viera for gameplay purposes) can wear them.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' has female Dancers and male Bards, though they essentially do the same thing. In addition, only females can ride Pegasi, explained at one point as the weight (amusingly, generic enemy Pegasus knights count as male stats-wise). Another explanation claims that it's because it's hard enough for a woman to get her Pegasus to trust, while a man is incapable of gaining a pegasus' trust.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'' the enemy pegasus knights were male, but they appear to have been {{Retcon}}ned out of the series as they're gone from the remake.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' features indisputably male Sky Knights (read: Pegasus riders), capped off by a massive LampshadeHanging when Selena asks one of them about it. Said lampshade goes on to state that Pegasi are simply emotionally sensitive, and if you think one won't tolerate you, you make it so jittery it won't - implying that the rest of the series (or at least ''Awakening'' and the modernized Archanea games, which it shares a world with) only think pegasus riding is female-only in a folkloric SelfFulfillingProphecy.
** In ''Shadow Dragon'', the spell Excalibur can only be used by men, and the spell Aura can only be used by women (despite it being used by a male character used it in the game's story). It is also noted that Falchion can only be wielded by male descendants of Anri [[spoiler:though this is proven false when Lucina wields it in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]''.]]
* In the later ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'' games, The Lord class is male only, while the Valkyrie class is female only.
* In the ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'' series, males and females have entirely different classes available to them, with no class in common. The starting female class is Amazon, while the starting male class is Fighter. Some classes are obvious counterparts (The female Dragon Tamer and the male Beast Master for example). Some of the ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'' games however do not follow this formula, instead being like ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' where a handful of classes were gender-specific (like Dragon Tamer, Beast Master, Witch, and Dragoon), others are shared amongst both genders (like Knights, Wizard, Clerics and Fighters).
* ''VideoGame/{{Achaea}}'' features the Siren, a female-only race who eventually get the ability to charm others with their good looks as they level up.
* In ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'', only female children under six can be implanted with ADAM slugs. This makes them invincible and able to puke up EVE serum. They also heal instantly (this is [[AwesomeButImpractical not as good as you think]]; one fell down the stairs and broke both legs, which then healed cockeyed. The doctors had to re-break her legs several times to put them right). However, one researcher discovered that if you manage to restrain them and tear out the slug, you kill them instantly and get a huge shot of ADAM. Enter papa Frankestein...
* In ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', only women can become [[DarkIsNotEvil Umbra]] [[HotWitch Witches]] and only men can become [[LightIsNotGood Lumen]] [[SexyPriest Sages]]. Witches' power comes from making pacts with demons and are enhanced by the light of the moon, while the Sages commit to serve [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Laguna]] and are enhanced by the sun. The forbidden [[IntercourseWithYou union]] of an Umbra Witch and a Lumen Sage is what kicks off the events of the game.
* In ''VideoGame/JadeCocoon'', only women are permitted to carry out the ritual of purification, transforming firefly cocoons into white cocoons so that the soul of the monster in the cocoon is pacified and a cocoon master can call upon the monster's aid in battle. If a man attempts the purification ritual, it will result in a black cocoon, a thing of great evil that fills anything it touches with despair.
* Almost every VideoGame/LegoAdaptationGame has a high jump ability restricted to certain types of characters; in ''VideoGame/LEGOPiratesOfTheCaribbean'', ''VideoGame/LEGOIndianaJones'' 1, and the first ''[[VideoGame/TheLEGOMovieVideogame LEGO Movie Videogame]]'', the female characters have it.
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': All female Night Elves have the ability to become invisible at night when not moving, said to be a blessing by the moon goddess. However, on the other continent, this ability is shared by the (all-male) neutral bandit creeps.
** Lore-wise nothing stop a male Night Elf to learn this as well, it's just their Sentinels (who use said invisibility as part of their tactics) is all-female. A better example would be male-only druidic magic and female-only Moon priesthood.
* In ''VideoGame/FatalFrame'', it is noted that women are much more likely to develop a spiritual sixth sense, though there are rare cases that a man gains one. This is used to justify why the majority of the games' protagonists are female. The game also uses a ridiculous version when it claims that women are too weak to move furniture out of the way, as an attempt to justify a few {{Broken Bridge}}s.
* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'': In the fourth game, some of the Special Skills, which can only be used by a single character, are restricted to either Matt and Lance, the males, or Natalie and Anna, the females:

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'': Sirens are women born with mystical, eridium-fueled PsychicPowers. Not only can Sirens only be female, but there are only 6 of them at any given time. Troy from [[VideoGame/Borderlands3 the third game]] ''seems'' to [[WrongContextMagic break the rules]] by being both a man and a seventh Siren, but he's actually the result of a quirk in said rules; [[spoiler:he's not a true Siren, just the former [[ConjoinedTwins parasitic twin]] of one, his sister Tyreen. Part of Tyreen's PowerTattoo spread to him when they were born — presumably mistaking him as being part of her body — causing them to effectively share her Siren powers when they were separated. Troy doesn't really have any powers of his own, his body just [[PowerCopying leeches them from Tyreen to keep him alive]], hence why the Twins go around stealing powers from other Sirens.]]
* In the ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' games, only women are able to psychically control the energy of [[GreenRocks Ragnite]], and even then, they have to be descended from the titular PreCursors to do so. However, MugglesDoItBetter. The Valkyria, for all their power, wiped themselves out to the point that there's only about a handful left (spread out over all 5 games), most of which are named characters, one of which is a ReluctantMonster, [[spoiler: and, midway through the first game, one of them uses a DangerousForbiddenTechnique that destroys herself [[FantasticNuke and the surrounding city]]]]. Those that aren't [[spoiler: have the "honour" of being the [[PoweredByAForsakenChild forsaken children powering the Atlantic Federation's high-energy research program]]]]. Normal humans utilize Ragnite in much the same way we do oil. It's speculated that at the height of their power that this was not the case and Valkyrian men had their own powers, but nigh on 2,000 years of interbreeding with humans changed things. It's equally likely that Valkyrian men got shafted in the phenomenal cosmic powers department.
* In ''Franchise/DeadSpace [[VideoGame/DeadSpace 1]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/DeadSpace2 2]]'', only female [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Slashers]] have the ability to spit explosive globules. This is averted in ''[[VideoGame/DeadSpace3 3]]'', thanks to the necromorphs only having male corpses to infect. However, they're extremely rare (read: three in one of the last areas of the game) and are shown to have had to re-grow several organs that were repurposed into muscles during the infection, wasting resources to achieve something that just happens normally (well, as normal as an ArtisticLicenseBiology MysticalPlague can be) to someone with two X chromosomes.
* ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}'' has the players use actual humans but only men could pick up automatic weapons, climb ledges higher than their heads, and beat some enemies by hand-to-hand combat. Girls on the other hand only can use light weapons up to semi-automatic pistols, can only climb ledges up to around their hips, and their melee attacks at best just temporarily stun their enemies.
* Princess Zelda from ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' herself appears to be this as only women from the royal family can receive the magical powers their mothers and grandmothers before them have. Every male to date such as the King or the older brother from the Zelda of the first game having access to such abilities. Though this also implies women can't have access to the powers granted from the other two triforce pieces by any means.
* In ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' it is shown that only males from the Belmont clan could use the legendary whip. There was one instance of a woman using said whip but it has since been declared non-canon. A possible loophole that was only shown with males performing it is the Morris clan ability that, through the help of someone from the Lacarde clan, the Morris clan member defeats the spirit of the previous Belmont who used the whip. So far all playable females either have to use magic or their own less important weapons to combat Dracula's evil forces.
* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' does this at full force. Charlotte being the girl is physically much weaker and also doesn't have access to athletic abilities aside from jumping off Johnathan's shoulders while he gains the ability to slide, mega jump, and just be all around more nimble. To further make Charlotte's situation worse her own abilities and advantages appear to be simply because of her own family lineage being great mages (greater than the Lecardes) rather than her being a girl. It should be noted that in the extra game modes that feature a male and female team the girl never gains access to these abilities while their male ally has to usually make the harder platforming without them.
* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' tends to use this trope a lot with boys and girls when it comes to health and ability respectively. In ''IV'' for example the two ninjas Guy and Ibuki. Both are speedster-type characters but Guy can struggle in certain matchups so he gets 1000 health. Ibuki is better equipped to deal with more opponents but has 900 HP which is the standard for many female characters. In the same game, Ryu is an all-round fighter who can't specialize in one style and has 1000 HP, Sakura practices the same style but has more offensive ability and ways to get in and has 950, M. Bison and Rose are said to be counterparts and Bison has 1000 HP while Rose has 950. Zangief is the game's premier grappler who can struggle to get near his opponent and has 1075 HP in ''V'' while Mika who is also a grappler and has some pretty massive breasts has 950 HP.
* ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' has this with the Nova classes on both ends. Only males have ever seemingly been chosen to become Kaisers and the latest Kaiser (AKA the one playable in-game) is male. The female Nova Tear got her own powers via a pervert dragon called Eskalade who prefers and seemingly only gives his powers to females, turning them into Angelic Busters, and both are very different with Kaiser's attacks using lots of blades and Angelic Buster's attacks being much more girly in nature using purple and general light colors.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Although the world does not believe in true magic, it secretly exists in the form of the Maidens of the Seasons, who wield ElementalPowers. When a Maiden dies, the magic transfers to a young woman who is in the dying Maiden's final thoughts. If the Maiden's final thoughts are of a man or a woman older than 30, the magic transfers to a random young woman. However, the magic actually originates from a man, an "old wizard" who sacrificed his magic to empower four kind-hearted sisters who once helped him; ever since he gave them his magic, it has stayed gender-specific. [[spoiler:Ancient humans all had the ability to use magic, but only two individuals survive from that era -- the BigBad having CompleteImmortality and the BigGood having ResurrectiveImmortality. The Maidens' magic originally belonged to the BigGood, and it passes by copying his gender-restricted reincarnation cycle: when his physical body dies, his soul, Aura, and mind transfer to an eligible young man, who becomes his next host.]]
[[/folder]]

* In ''Webcomic/SacredPie'' the sacred objects can only be used by men, regardless of species. This is a side effect of Lucifer creating them for his own use.

** There IS a male equivalent -- [[spoiler:Melleck Xaos is the Worlock]]. Their powers are a bit different, so the rule still applies.
* ''Webcomic/TheLawOfPurple'' has the Myranians, a race of aliens where only the females have psychic powers.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', certain classes in Sburb/Sgrub are only available to certain genders, and all other classes are weighted towards either males or females.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' traditional summoning or Elendlari can only be performed by females, due to what Word of God describes as something related to their ability to bear children. The Origin of the Jaal'darya story elaborates on this as being related to the ability to separate one's own aura from that of the child growing inside them when they give birth, with the same technique being used to create a traditional summon. [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Nether summoning]] has no such gender restriction (though it's still only taught formally to females in school) which is one reason it's become increasingly popular.
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', the ability to summon [[HyperspaceMallet magical hammers out of nowhere]] is female only and they can only be used to [[PervertRevengeMode punish men for making inappropriate comments at women]].
* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': One of the magic systems is a deliberately SadlyMythtaken version of the Myth/NorseMythology example mentioned above, in which magic is acquired via blessing from the Norse gods. This results in the trope being downplayed by having most Icelandic and Norwegian mages being female, but the one that's part of the main EnsembleCast being one of the few males. When he gets proper magic lessons, he's the only man in the entire classroom.
* ''Webcomic/ApricotCookies'': Only girls have the ability to become [[MagicalGirlWarrior Dainty Defenders of Light]], marked by the presence of a bird companion. Boys instead get a deck of cards to duel others with, though that didn't stop Apricot from briefly trying (even if she was bad at it). [[spoiler:Starlet Pony, born biologically male, uses a loophole in the system to fight as a magical girl: she owns a magical girl-themed trap card and made it her TransformationTrinket, giving her the card's abilities and appearance when used.]]

* In Salamando's "Sex Mage World" stories, a mysterious event grants all women 19 and older the powers of Sex Magic, a combination of sexual-themed magic and psychic abilities that allow women to read, manipulate, and control men's bodies and minds with ease. Only women have this power, and most women are immune to one another's powers, while men are always vulnerable to it. However, while men don't gain magic of their own, their lust provides the necessary ethereal energies which fuel Sex Magic spells; while women can provide some of their own energy, it greatly pales in comparison to how much a man can produce. This naturally creates a completely female-dominated society as a result, since men can't be trusted in positions of power, and their societal purpose quickly becomes being the fuel and playthings of the Sex Mage women.

[[folder:Web Video]]

* The Trait Positives in ''WebVideo/Lonelygirl15'' are always female, for some unspecified genetic reason. The sequel ''WebVideo/LG15TheResistance'' has the same thing [[spoiler:but subverts it in the final episode, which reveals that men can be trait positive, but it's so rare it only happens once every thousand years.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' it is not a real ability but rather a property. When male gargoyles wake up, their eyes glow white, but when female gargoyles wake up, their eyes glow red. For the clones, it is exactly the opposite.

* The fifth ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'' movie reveals that female dragons can [[{{Animorphism}} shapeshift into animals]], while males can take the form of rocks or water.

* ''Film/RedSonja'' features a powerful artifact that can only be wielded by a woman, destroying any man who touches it.

* ''{{Film/Thelma}}'': Thelma discovers that her paternal grandmother shared her powers. Her father doesn't though, implying they're only inherited by females.

* ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'': Only man can inherit the hanma-blood.

** Among the DRAGON's: [[spoiler:only the females go back and forth at will between human and draconic form, and their dragon forms are pretty much universally smaller and weaker than male DRAGON's, with the exception of Aura, their progenitor. It's never made clear if male DRAGON's cannot become human, or if it's just a societal custom to remain draconic after a certain age.]]

* The ability to use Chakra in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10315559/1/To-Walk-on-One-s-Own-Path To Walk on One's Own Path]]'' is restricted entirely to women. One of the reasons [[GenderBender Minako]] is so [[MyBelovedSmother protective]] of her son, Manga/{{Naruto}}, is because she knows he would not be able to defend himself against her many enemies.

** VideoGame/CurseCrackersForWhomTheBelleToils gives more information about mages. In the world of Ledamra, there are seven different races of people gifted by the seven Scales (including the aforementioned monsters), as well as the Ungifted, who are just normal humans. However, only the female gifted can use magic. This might be because the Scales and their creator were all female.

* The witch families of New Orleans in ''Webcomic/{{Muted}}'' tie their magic to gender identity, meaning transgender women gain magic while transgender men lose it.

* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' tends to use this trope a lot with boys and girls when it comes to health and ability respectively. In ''IV'' for example the two ninjas Guy and Ibuki. Both are speedster-type characters but Guy can struggle in certain matchups so he gets 1000 health. Ibuki is better equipped to deal with more opponents but has 900 HP which is the standard for many female characters. In the same game, Ryu is an all-round fighter who can't specialize in one style and has 1000 HP, Sakura practices the same style but has more offensive ability and ways to get in and has 950, M. Bison and Rose are said to be counterparts and Bison has 1000 HP while Rose has 950. Zangief is the game's premier grappler who can struggle to get near his opponent and has 1075 HP in ''V'' while Mika who is also a grappler and has some pretty massive [[BoobsOfSteel breast]] has 950 HP.

* ''VideoGame/CurseCrackersForWhomTheBelleToils'': In the world of Ledamra, there are seven different races of people gifted by the seven Scales, as well as the Ungifted, who are just normal humans. However, only the female gifted can use magic. This might be because the Scales and their creator were all female.

-->--''Film/TheDarkCrystal''

* In ''Literature/KronikiDrugiegoKregu'' only boys are believed to be born with magic. It’s later SubvertedTrope with the introduction of Jagoda (a very powerful female [[{{Telepathy}} Observer]]) and as the series goes on, more and more girls with magical abilities are discovered. They remain much rarer than male mages though, which makes them (especially Jagoda) very good candidates for the SuperBreedingProgram.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'': Sirens are women born with mystical, eridium-fueled PsychicPowers. Not only can Sirens only be female, but there are only 6 of them at any given time. Troy from [[VideoGame/Borderlands3 the third game]] ''seems'' to [[WrongContextMagic break the rules]] by being both a man and a seventh Siren, but he’s actually the result of a quirk in said rules; [[spoiler:he’s not a true Siren, just the former [[ConjoinedTwins parasitic twin]] of one, his sister Tyreen. Part of Tyreen’s PowerTattoo spread to him when they were born — presumably mistaking him as being part of her body — causing them to effectively share her Siren powers when they were separated. Troy doesn’t really have any powers of his own, his body just [[PowerCopying leeches them from Tyreen to keep him alive]], hence why the Twins go around stealing powers from other Sirens.]]

* The Trait Positives in ''WebVideo/{{lonelygirl15}}'' are always female, for some unspecified genetic reason.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', only the females in Mei's family are granted the ability to turn into a giant red panda when they come of age. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen An early draft gave Mei a male cousin, named Leo, who could also transform into a red panda,]] but the Director's Commentary on the DVD says that in the final version, the ability is limited to Sun Yee's female descendants.

* ''LightNovel/{{Kampfer}}'': Kampfers have to be female. When a Kampfer bracelet finds its way onto the wrist of a boy, it turns him ''[[SexShifter into]]'' a girl [[SuperGenderBender whenever he becomes a Kampfer]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', only the females in Mei's family are granted the ability to turn into a giant red panda when they come of age. However, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen and early draft gave mei a male cousin, named Leo, who could also transform into a red panda,]] meaning it's entirely possible that males can have the ability (we don't see any male relatives besides Jin).

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', only the females in Mei's family are granted the ability to turn into a giant red panda when they come of age.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': Kyubey only ever offers adolescent girls the contracts that will make them become [[MagicalGirlWarrior Magical Girls]]. Why he never does the same with any male or females of other ages groups is unspecified. One theory is that [[spoiler:because Kyubey's species, the Incubators, are trying to harvest energy via emotions, they figure that's the demographic that has the strongest emotions]].
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': The effects of the Dragon's Whisker herb appear to only effect males. A bald man who drinks a soup or tonic made from it will have their hair regrow, a man with hair who drinks it will [[RapidHairGrowth have their hair grow out of control]] until it falls out completely unless bound with another Dragon's Whisker. A woman who drinks it... nothing. Turns out to be useful for [[SexShifter Ranma]] who drank the soup by accident and has to have his hair bound... or use his Jusenkyo curse to temporarily halt the effects while several older, bald and balding cast members fight over one used to bind his hair when they find out.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' certain forms of magic (such as walking the moon's road) are exclusive to women; even a trans woman can't go. There was a passing reference to the Sandman example being based on chromosomes (the character who brought it up didn't know a whole lot about the subject) while WordOfGod suggest that the ancient deities and witches just can't get over some old prejudices; there is nothing that inherently prevents a biological male from practicing "female" magic, except a deity that can't get her head around the idea. As seen later on, Death feels no need for such discrimination.

* In PreCrisis [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] stories, Billy and Freddy got their powers from famous "gods" (Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury), while ComicBook/{{Mary|Marvel}}'s came from six "goddesses" (Selene, Hippolyta, Ariadne, Zephyrus, Aurora and Minerva). Functionally, however, they had all the same powers...even though they probably shouldn't have, since Mary's set sometimes provided gifts like "beauty" instead things useful in a fight. (Also, yes, ignore the fact that [[GenderFlip Zephyrus was male in actual mythology]].) ComicBook/PostCrisis, Mary also gets her powers from the male set.

* ''Film/TheAmbushers'': A flying saucer that the protagonists need to find can only be piloted by women; the electro-magnetic waves it emits are fatal to men.

* ''Film/{{Martyrs}}'': The Mademoiselle tells Anna that females (particularly those in their 20's and 30's) are the most likely to be able to achieve martyrdom which entails withstanding great torture, deprivation, and agony to achieve a transcendental state that allows one to see beyond death and into the afterlife. However, male martyrs aren't unheard of (though interestingly, the only examples of male martyrs shown in Mademoiselle's book are prepubescent boys).

** Only males can be born with magical powers. A woman must sell her soul to become a magic-user - and will still be weaker than a male mage. In fact, even the sorcery-accotiated god (who is male) of pre-Christianic times was believed to be rather mysoginistic. In contrast, Eastern Slavic mythology also have a good number of very badass non-magical [[ActionGirl action girls]]. In other words, while for the most world [[MagicisFeminine magic is feminine]], [[RussianReversal in ancient Rus(sia) Magic is Manly]] while physical violence is gender-neutral. And yet, for whatever reason, in western fantasy Eastern Slavic-themed cultures often make a point of having either mostly female or outright female-only magic-users. Even worse - both Eastern Slavs and some native peoples of Siberia had a theme of female (but not male) magic being weakened/outright blocked by cold - but a generic western portrayal of supposedly Eastern Slavic-inspired spellcaster is very often a female [[IcePerson ice person]]. Makes one think where did this wrong but weirdly persistent idea even came from?

* Jean Auel's ''Literature/ClanOfTheCaveBear'' is a dual literary example. The neanderthals featured in this novel live their lives along sharply divided gender lines, and due to how their brains are structured, cannot do otherwise. It's not tradition that says male neanderthals hunt and females take care of the kids. Rather, they are literally hardwired into these roles and cannot function when taken out of them. Ayla, being a modern human, can and does, deeply disturbing them in the process. Yet, ''her'' jaw almost drops when she sees Jondalar, a man, cooking. Ironically, [[ScienceMarchesOn it's now believed]] that Neanderthals had ''less'' of a gender divide than Cro Magnons.

** There's also differences between Wizard (male) magic power and Sorceress (female) magic power. In practical terms, they can do more or less the same things: throw wind, fire and lightning around, create spell forms, etc. But they're stated to work differently, such that each gender doesn't properly "get" how the other works. At the Palace of the Prophets, for example, it takes several hundred years for the sorceresses to teach young wizards how to use their gifts properly, but it takes a ''much'' shorter amount of time for a male wizard to teach another male wizard.

* Averted on the Literature/{{Discworld}}, at least in the areas where most stories featuring wizards and witches take place. Wizardry and witchcraft are separate forms of magic which are mostly gender divided, but this is a social split related to prejudices on both sides of the fence. Exceptions do exist, such as the early mention of wizards in Krull not caring much either way. It's suggested that [[MotherNatureFatherScience wizardry being systematic was more suited to men while witchcraft being initiative/emotional was more suited to women]]. Interestingly, despite her initial reservations, Granny Weatherwax is eventually convinced that Eskarina's mindset ''is'' wizard-like and that trying to shape it into witchcraft simply because she's female is a bad idea. Incidentally, both Granny and Archcancellor Ridcully have expressed the opinion that witchcraft/wizardry isn't primarily about magic, because magic is so easy that even wizards/witches can do it.

** ''Industrial Magic'' suggests that sorcerer magic and witch magic are branches of the same school. Witches only know the first level of their magic, as they eschew the second level spells (such as curing hiccups) as useless. Unfortunately for the witches, learning the second level spells is the only way to unlock the upper tier spells (contained in the witches' own GreatBigBookOfEverything, but dismissed as unworkable). Most supernaturals dismiss witch magic as weak and useless, as both witches and sorcerers believe that the basic tier of witch spells is all there is.

* In ''First Literature/{{Lensman}}'', Mentor explains to Jill why it is impossible to create a Lens for a female. Mentor is lying his head off, as Clarissa will prove later in the series, but for the first couple books that's how the Lens works. He's not exactly lying, given that he also outright tells her that there will at some point be a female Lensman. He doesn't, however, mention her daughters, who aren't ''technically'' Lensmen ... they just have all the powers even without having a lens and can generate their own out of thin air purely by thinking hard.

* In Anne Bishopss ''Literature/BlackJewels'' saga, female magic is almost always more potent than men's. Ranking within the Jewels can extend to Queen for females, whereas male ranking extends only to Warlord Prince. However, the magical power depends on the darkness of the jewel of an individual.

* In ''Literature/KronikiDrugiegoKregu'' only boys are believed to be born with magic. It’s later SubvertedTrope with introduction of Jagoda (a very powerful female [[{{Telepathy}} Observer]]) and as the series goes on more and more girls with magical abilities are discovered. They remain much rarer than male mages through, which makes them (especially Jagoda) very good candidates for the SuperBreedingProgram.

* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', the Thorburn and Duchamp families base their ancestry around being female. In this case of the Duchamps, this involves becoming a OneGenderRace using magic and birth control to ensure that they bear no male children, while the Thorburns simply designate a sole female as the heir to their lineage. Rose Thorburn, the current heir, has command of the Thorburn voice, which she uses to command respect from supernatural creatures, while her DistaffCounterpart Blake handles the physical aspects like making ritual diagrams.
* ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'' - golden (queen) dragons will only Impress on women, and bronzes only on men. For other colors, general rules exist, but exceptions can be found.

** There are, however, also the [[{{Ratmen}} taratzes]], which is a species of mutated giant rats. They are stronger, faster and more resilient than humans, but usually not particularly smart. The [[GeniusBruiser taratze kings]] are an exception, however, and in the entire series of books a taratze queen has never been seen.

** The sworn brothers of the [[MageKiller Michaeline Order]] in Amorr are recruited from boys born with the supernatural, ostensibly God-given ability to see and dispel magic. The Order is traditionally male, since no girl has ever been known to possess such gifts, though there is InUniverse debate on whether such a girl should be accepted as a Michaeline sister if one was found.
* ''Literature/TheCourtshipOfPrincessLeia'': For some reason, Allya's descendants only could use the Force if they were female, since no one had seen a "male Witch" as they call it until Luke. Given that Force ability is hereditary, perhaps in her case it was carried solely by the female sex chromosomes (though it would be an outlier as this is never seen in any other case of Force sensitives)

* ''Literature/TheBarbarianAndTheSorceress'': Barnabus tells Rom only men have the intellect to learn sorcery. He's quite wrong however, as Kira picked it up while helping him learn from ancient scrolls.

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Slayers are always young girls. Averted with witchcraft: though most practitioners are female, there are male users. Giles borrowed the power of an entire coven to take on Dark Willow, Angel and Xander are both shown to use spells, Oz and several frat boys accidentally summon the demon of fear, and there are a few guys in UC Sunnydale's Wicca group. On the other hand, there are no real prominent good male dedicated spellcasters on the show to contrast with Willow, Tara and even Jenny Calendar. There are powerful but not "good" male spellcasters such as Rack, Ethan, and Jonathan.
** However, there are quite a few exceptions. In the third season there is a warlock named Michael, who is not very powerful, but is good.

** In ''Series/{{Angel}}'' there is also a group of powerful beings who occasionally determine someone as their ''champion'', to fight against the evil. The respective champions are almost always demons (at least partially), and almost always male.

* Amusingly averted in Myth/NorseMythology. A majority of witches are female, but only because their magic [[DeusSexMachina relies on contact with another person's semen]]. Yes, that means the {{Uke}} can have magic powers too. One way that gay men and transgender women could live openly and still be moderately tolerated in Norse society was to practice witchcraft. Of course, they were still ostracized, but people still sought their services, and not many would want to anger a witch. And to further make the point: Odin is a male witch, since he wanted to learn all the magic of the world. This means exactly what you think it means.
* Christian mythology (ie, the kind of [[{{Heresy}} stuff]] you'd find in the ''Literature/MalleusMaleficarum'' and only tangentally related to the teachings of the Bible) holds that magic can be practised by both sexes, but women tend to go for it more because men have the Lion's Share (pun not intended) of God's grace. Women, being (supposedly) less blessed, tend to go [[DealWithTheDevil elsewhere]].

** There was never any kind of mystery about low numbers of male Dark Elves mages (which is "relatively" new lore by itself first with it's first appearance being 6 edition). Most of them indeed are killed during childhood (as a person is born mage, not taught to be one) because of the prophecy. Still, in Hag Graef (second largest city) there are all-male covens of warlocks (through they are cursed by the king and thus have quite painful existance). Mages from outcast Shade clans are also usually male. As for Brettonia - children with magic abilities are given to (always female) priesthood of the state religion. Girls become priestesses while boys disapper. There are atleast 3 version of their fate - older editions implied that they become servants of Wood Elves. In the infamous End Times books they apparently transformed into superhuman semi-elvish mage-knights who will serve Elven gods in a new world that will be created once the current one will be destroyed. Finally, according to an event in ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'' they become paladins.
** Interstingly, some fans of ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'' have a misconception that Elven mages in general are almost exclusively female. Sometimes one can even hear that Teclis being male archmage is extremely unusual thing. This is completely wrong - while Dark Elves have female prevalence among mages due to their king's paranoia, among Wood Elves both male and female mages are equally common. High Elven mages are usually male; in fact, the only female spellcaster of importance is th Everqueen, who is not even a archmage in usual meaning. Earlier edition explained that by stating that outside of Avelorn (Everqueen' queendom) High Elves find the general idea of women on battlefield to be "barbaric", which created interesting contrast with their Dark cousins. For some strange reason, in ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'' ''every single'' Elven mage (with the exeption of DE king, said archmage Teclis and a guy who use an amulet to cast spells) is female, which lead some people to believe this being the case in lore as well.
* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' features the Qedeshah bloodline, a motherly lineage who draw their origins from a group of temple prostitutes. Part of their bloodline-specific curse is that after joining the bloodline, they can only Embrace females. Attempts to Embrace men result in the man experiencing agonising, incapacitating pain for 24 hours before they expire horribly, the Qedeshah "mother" suffering a portion of this pain through the sympathetic connections of their shared blood. Men are not barred from joining the bloodline from outside the family tree, but upon doing so their vitae is rendered sterile and they can no longer Embrace childer or create ghouls, earning them the position of eunuch.

** In the 2E setting, the followers of Hala included female clerics and male wizards, ostensibly because the goddess taught that each gender was better-suited to that sort of magic. Subverted in the 3E Ravenloft products, which left its Halan prestige classes open to both sexes.

* In ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' only female drow are trained to priestesses. Male drow could also learn the magic, but in the [[{{Matriarchy}} company of the drow]] men are not worth much.
** Actually, drow see arcane magic (which has higher power potential then divine) as more suited to males. Thus being a mage is one of the few ways for a man to achieve power in their opressively matriarchal society. Now, a mage with too much potential will propably won't be allowed to live long enough to reach it, but still.

* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series only Fey women can be spirit mediums. This actually causes massive social damage to the Fey clan - because the Fey family holds their spiritual powers so highly, their men feel ''deeply'' unappreciated, and their home village, Kurain, has one of the highest divorce rates in the country. (Maya implies that her young cousin, Pearl, hasn't seen a successful relationship in her ''life''.)

* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' has female Dancers and male Bards, though they essentially do the same thing. In addition, only females can ride Pegasi, explained at one point as the weight (amusingly, generic enemy Pegasus knights count as male stats wise). Another explanation claims that it's because it's hard enough for a woman to get her Pegasus to trust, while a man is incapable of gaining a pegasus' trust.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'' the enemy pegasus knights were male, but they appear to have been have {{Retcon}}ned out of the series as they're gone from the remake.

** In ''Shadow Dragon'', the spell Excalibur can only be used by men and the spell Aura can only be used by women (despite it being used by a male character used it in the games story). It is also noted that Falchion can only be wielded by male descendants of Anri [[spoiler:though this is proven false when Lucina wields it in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]''.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'' series, males and females have entirely different classes available to them, with no class in common. The starting female class is Amazon, while the starting male class is Fighter. Some classes are obvious counterparts (The female Dragon Tamer and the male Beast Master for example). Some of the ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'' games however do not follow this formula, instead being like ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' where a handful of classes were gender-specific (like Dragon Tamer, Beast Master, Witch and Dragoon), others are shared amongst both genders (like Knights, Wizard, Clerics and Fighters).

* In ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'', only female children under six can be implanted with ADAM slugs. This makes them invincible and able to puke up EVE serum. they also heal instantly (this is [[AwesomeButImpractical not as good as you think]], one fell down the stairs and broke both legs, which then healed cokeyed. the doctors had to re-break her legs several times to put them right). However, one researcher discovered that if you manage to restrain them and tear out the slug, you kill them instantly and get a huge shot of ADAM. Enter papa Frankestein...

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': All female Night Elves have the ability to become invisible at night when not moving, said to be a blessing by the moon goddess. However, on the other continent this ability is shared by the (all-male) neutral bandit creeps.
** Lore-wise nothing stop a male Night Elf to learn this as well, it's just their Sentinels (who use said invisibily as part of their tactics) is all-female. A better examples would be male-only druidic magic and female-only Moon priesthood.

* In the ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' games, only women are able to psychically control the energy of [[GreenRocks Ragnite]], and even then, they have to be descended from the titular PreCursors to do so. However, MugglesDoItBetter. The Valkyria, for all their power, wiped themselves out to the point that there's only about a handful left (spread out over all 5 games), most of which are named characters, one of which is a ReluctantMonster, [[spoiler: and, midway through the first game, one of them uses a DangerousForbiddenTechnique that destroys herself [[FantasticNuke and the surrounding city]]]]. Those that aren't [[spoiler: have the "honour" of being the [[PoweredByAForsakenChild forsaken children powering the Atlantic Federation's high-energy research program]]]]. Normal humans utilize Ragnite in much the same way we do oil. It's speculated that at the height of their power that this was not the case and Valkyrian men had their own powers, but nigh on 2,000 years of interbreeding with humans changed things. It's equally likely that Valkyrian men got shafted in the phenominal cosmic powers department.
* In ''Franchise/DeadSpace [[VideoGame/DeadSpace 1]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/DeadSpace2 2]]'', only female [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Slashers]] have the ability to spit explosive globules. This is averted in ''[[VideoGame/DeadSpace3 3]]'', thanks to the necromorphs only having male corpses to infect. However, they're extremely rare (read: three in one of the last areas of the game) and are shown to have had to re-grow several organs that were repurposed into muscles during the infection, wasting resources to acheive something that just happens normally (well, as normal as an ArtisticLicenseBiology MysticalPlague can be) to someone with two X chromosomes.
* ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}'' has the players use actual humans but only men could pick up automatic weapons, climb ledges higher than their heads, and beat some enemies by hand to hand combat. Girls on the other hands only can use light weapons up to semi automatic pistols, can only climb ledges up to around their hips, and their melee attacks at best just temporarily stun their enemies.
* Princess Zelda from ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' herself appears to be this as only women from the royal family can recieve the magical powers their mothers and grandmothers before them have. Every male to date such as the King or the older brother from the Zelda of the first game having access to such abilities. Though this also implies women can't have access to the powers granted from the other two triforce pieces by any means.

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' does this at full force. Charlotte being the girl is physically much weaker, and also doesn't have access to athletic abilities aside from jumping off Johnathan's shoulders while he gains the ability to slide, mega jump, and just be all around more nimble. To further make Charlotte's situation worse her own abilities and advantages appear to be simply because of her own family lineage being great mages (greater than the Lecardes) rather than her being a girl. It should be noted that in the extra game modes that feature a male and female team the girl never gains access to these abilities while their male ally has to usually make the harder platforming without them.
* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' tends to use this trope a lot with boys and girls when it comes to health and ability respectively. In ''IV'' for example the two ninjas Guy and Ibuki. Both are speedster type characters but Guy can struggle in certain matchups so he gets 1000 health. Ibuki is better equipped to deal with more opponents but has 900 HP which is the standard for many female characters. In the same game Ryu is an all round fighter who can't specialize in one style and has 1000 HP, Sakura practices the same style but has more offensive ability and ways to get in and has 950, M. Bison and Rose are said to be counterparts and Bison has 1000 HP while Rose has 950. Zangief is the game's premier grappler who can struggle to get near his opponent and has 1075 HP in ''V'' while Mika who is also a grappler and has some pretty massive [[BoobsOfSteel breast]] has 950 HP.
* ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' has this with the Nova classes on both ends. Only males have ever seemingly been chosen to become Kaisers and the latest Kaiser (AKA the one playable in game) is male. The female Nova Tear got her own powers via a pervert dragon called Eskalade who prefers and seemingly only gives his powers to females, turning them into Angelic Busters, and both are very different with Kaiser's attacks using lots of blades and Angelic Buster's attacks being much more girly in nature using purple and general light colors.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Although the world does not believe in true magic, it secretly exists in the form of the Maidens of the Seasons, who wield ElementalPowers. When a Maiden dies, the magic transfers to a young woman who is in the dying Maiden's final thoughts. If the Maiden's final thoughts are of a man or a woman older than 30, the magic transfers to a random young woman. However, the magic actually originates from a man, an "old wizard" who sacrificed his magic to empower four kind-hearted sisters who once helped him; ever since he gave them his magic, it has stayed gender-specific. [[spoiler:Ancient humans all had the ability to use magic, but only two individuals survive from that era -- the BigBad having CompleteImmortality and the BigGood having ResurrectiveImmortality. The Maidens' magic originally belonged to the BigGood, and it passes by copying his gender-restricted reincarnation cycle: when his physical body dies, his soul, Aura and mind transfer to an eligible young man, who becomes his next host.]]

* In ''Webcomic/SacredPie'' the sacred objects can only be used by men, regardless of species. This is a side effect from Lucifer creating them for his own use.

* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': One of the magic systems is a deliberately SadlyMythtaken version of the Myth/NorseMythology example mentioned above, in which magic is acquired via blessing from the Norse gods. This results in the trope being dowplayed by having most Icelandic and Norwegian mages being female, but the one that's part of the main EnsembleCast being one of the few males. When he gets proper magic lessons, he's the only man in the entire classroom.

* In ''WebVideo/AdventuresInJediSchool'', it's explained that the reason why the Jedi Order is such a sausage fest is that women lack the proper enzymes for midi-chlorians to form, making it literally a biological impossibility for women to wield the Force and become Jedi. Its revealed that Princess Sessa is a woman who has a genetic anomaly that makes her the only woman who can wield the Force, Master Anki Mudmud planning on harvesting her DNA so that his sister Villaine can have Force-powers like him.

** For modern-day male sopranos (also known as sopranists), you have [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radu_Marian Radu Marian]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Cano Jorge Cano]] who are called natural castrati due to endocrinological issues,[[note]][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Scott Jimmy Scott]] was a similar example in that a hormonal condition prevented him from completing puberty, but his voice fell into the contralto range, so he was called a countertenor instead of a sopranist.[[/note]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Manzotti Angelo Manzotti]] who taught himself a special technique with his vocal chords. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Maniaci Michael Maniaci]] is the closest you'll come to a natural male soprano -- his vocal chords never went through puberty, but the rest of him did.

* In both new world monkeys and prosimians, color vision is ''only'' present in some female individuals. This is because, for color vision, three different genes are required - two of which are in the X chromosome. For apes (humans included) and old world monkeys, this is no big deal: each of our X chromosomes has room for both of these genes. But for other primates, there can only be one of these genes per chromosome, as they both occupy the same locus. This means only heterozygous female individuals can see in full color, males and homozygous females are all red-green colorblind.

* Female black widow spiders are dangerously venomous. The males, while not completely harmless, are smaller, less likely to bite and inject less venom when they do. The opposite is true for Sydney funnel-web spiders, in which the males are more venomous (and more likely to encounter humans, due to wandering around searching for mates).
* Many species of anglerfish have the females as the only ones who can do ''anything'' active. Mature males are essentially parasitic lumps of atrophied flesh holding testicles that hang off the female's body and hooks into her circulatory system to live. All they can or ever do is spurt out sperm to fertilize eggs.
* In various types of insects; such as mantids, ants, and fireflies, only the males possess the ability to fly.

* ''VideoGame/CurseCrackersForWhomTheBelleToils'': In the world of Ledamra, there are seven different races of people gifted by the seven Scales, as well as the Ungifted, who are just normal humans. However, only female members of those seven races can actually use their magical abilities, while the males only have the physical features. This might be because the Scales and their creator were all female.

* ''Series/ThePower2023'': The electricity powers are exclusive to women or girls, as people soon realize.