If men had to have babies instead of women, the human race would have died out long ago.
That saying may have been vindicated, after machines gave men in China the ability to feel the pain of childbirth for 30 seconds and not all of them could last that long.
On Sunday, men in Nanchang City in south China's Jiangxi province were hooked up to complex machines that provided them with a painful taste of what women go through in labour.
Some 20 male volunteers went on a local TV show to submit to the pains that women endure. The challenge consisted of 10 levels of pain with an agony scale from 50 to 500.
The machine allowed for maximum of 30 seconds of simulated childbirth pain
Electrical shocks were sent into the abdomen of the male volunteers - including British singer Iain Inglis, 31, who lives and works in China - who gave up when the pain-o-metre hit 100.
"It was too much for me," he said. "The pain was terrible."
Guinea pig Lee Hao said: "This was incredible. I couldn't stand much of it all. I understand now why my wife screamed for drugs when she was giving birth."
Zhou Nan successfully stuck to the end and hit the 500 mark. "I am the father of triplets and wanted to understand the great pain my wife experienced when she was giving birth," he said. "It was horrible. I have nothing but deep admiration for all mothers after this ordeal."
'I have nothing but deep admiration for mothers after this ordeal', one man said
But the simulated pain in the show lasted for just 30 seconds - a tiny fraction of how long women have to endure the real thing.
"This can help people realise how great mothers are," said the event organiser.