It's not gender related -the actions might differ but there are women and men who seek out this sort of power dynamic to feel superior, or pretend to be helpless or use it to manipulate -I've seen female "friendships" like this.
I'm getting a vibe maybe of an attempt to male bash and it's not my cup of tea. Honestly I could have used a bit more pampering by men and women alike when I was noticeably pregnant and working full time and really hard -I took off one day to work from home when I felt really ill and actually had to do a complicated assignment.
I had one instance when I was loudly criticized at a UPS store where I went just to get passport photos taken because I was annoyed with a man who let a heavy box drop on my foot and didn't think it was a big deal (obviously can't hurt baby except who wants to start messing with pain meds etc from an injury while pregnant). Another where a maintenance person made fun of me for walking up stairs too slowly (before I was noticeably pregnant but very tired and elevator was broken), and a 2 hour dinner with a female friend who not once asked me just basically "how are you feeling?" But went on about how her life was going (she did not have children -and this shouldn't have mattered -it's common sense to ask your pregnant friend how she's feeling).
Obviously, some of this is bad manners but I can say -as the OP seems to be speculating -that it's part of a bigger problem of thinking we're all supposed to feel and act strong and independent, not need others help or protection so it leads to not even asking or expecting someone to suck it up. I would have appreciated more damsel treatment when I had a 10 month old and was entertaining 3 other adults two of whom were related to my baby who watched me make sure the crawling baby wasn't crawling into an unsafe place while making sure everyone had lunch and -oh no worries I'll sit on the floor when I finally get my plate ready since we ran out of seats.
Yes a little overprotection in the manner of "no no here let me get you a chair - wait - don't sit yet - do you need a refill on your drink?"
And you know what who the heck cares where it's coming from at that point -I'm not going to get into the weeds and question all motives especially if it comes from a bias against the non-fairer gender lol. Why not default to - good manners/common sense and if it comes across as patronizing or self-serving once in awhile -ok cool let it go if it's not that way other times. Sometimes people do this out of a sense of obligation or are in a mood where they do want attention for going the extra mile -you know what -let it go and try to look at the whole picture.
And fine if there's a set up that works for a couple where one person acts all helpless so the other person can strut around and be all powerful - fine if it works for them and no abuse, cool. Wouldn't be for me at all but I know for sure it's not some widespread gender-related issue.