Arms outstretched like the crucified Christ, they read their broadsheets in comfort, while the unfortunate woman squashed beside them either plasters her paper against the window or hangs it over the aisle. His or her arm length is not the problem. It's his dick that gets in the way. Women are encouraged to take up less space than men. Observe the body language in any public place and you will find that while men are expansive, women are contained.
Physical space is an extension of psychic space.
If you feel like a nobody, you don't need much room. Self-confidence should not be a gender issue. Boys are not born more confident than girls. Society makes them so because it traditionally values their skills and aptitudes above those of women. Women have responded by demanding a place in the male world of money and power, and we have seen enormous changes.