You can’t supercharge a body nutritionally, so the implication is that women aren’t taking protein. I can’t see why it wouldn’t affect boys as well, at least to the point of their maximum growth.
What if a boy thinks he was born a girl, will protein make him taller?
The fact is good nutrition during adolescence and earlier enhances growth. It can activate certain genetics as well that increase growth.
Relatively speaking, the (binary) male body is geared toward building muscle; the (binary) female body is geared toward building fat. It is genetic, and hence hormonal. The female body also has only about 80% the hemoglobin of the male counterpart: Nutrients are transported by the blood. (Women historically faint more than men because they have less oxygen supplied via the blood.)
Thus, a female body is more sensitive to dietary protein increases, since her body is not optimized to convert protein into muscle; i.e., it is not geared toward anabolism.
If a female athlete approaches the type of low body-fat percentage that a trained male athlete has, she may lose her menses. (It is not nice to fool Mother Nature.)
Regardless, the human body can only digest and assimilate so much protein at one time. A common amount cited is about 15 grams at one time. Many Americans get more than that.
Malnourished girls would obviously be susceptible to this effect. Vegans might (I say might) be more susceptible also. (Hemp protein is more efficiently assimilated than almost any other plant protein, including Soy, is almost as high in protein content as Soy, and is more digestible than Soy. It also is uniquely high in Globulin protein.)
One alternative approach for those who want to optimize protein utilization is the ingestion of Indian Gooseberry (Amla, Amalaki, Emblica). It promotes a positive nitrogen balance; i.e., it is a natural, edible, non-steroidal anabolic substance. It is a food-grade fruit, and is naturally higher by volume in Vitamin C Complex (not just isolated Ascorbic Acid, but C with associated Flavonoids) than almost any food.
Another major factor is fat consumption: Natural, wholesome fats are the precursors to anabolic hormones (i.e., they are lipids). As Udo Erasmus once said: If you want your children to grow tall and big, feed them a high-fat diet in their adolescence, and then (good luck!) convince them to lower their fat consumption in adulthood.