I don’t want to call BS, but I have a hard time believing you, especially as the APFT requires females (aged 17-21) to perform 19 push ups in order to receive a passing score. Watching ROTC cadets perform the APFT over a two year span, I’d say the median push up count for the female cadets was around mid 30s to mid 40s—not what you’d expect from the average man (given the mimimum of 42 push ups), but nowhere near the 10 you state. I don’t remember a single one performing anything less than mid 20s or so. So, unless my experience was abnormal or you were surrounded by remarkably unmotivated and/or incredibly weak women over your 20+ year career, I think you need to have your memory checked.
The "pushups" that almost every female Soldier I've seen over the past 20 years barely qualify as pushups. They go up and down a few inches and absolutely struggle the entire time. If a male did pushups like that, he'd fail the APFT. I've literally never seen a female do FORTY pushups.