International men’s artistic gymnastics has six events; women’s artistic gymnastics has four. Both include vault and floor exercise, but those shared event names do not mean identical routines or rules.
The clearest comparison is to look at the apparatus each program uses, then examine the two shared events separately.
The event lists
| Event | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Floor exercise | Yes | Yes |
| Vault | Yes | Yes |
| Pommel horse | Yes | No |
| Still rings | Yes | No |
| Parallel bars | Yes | No |
| Horizontal bar | Yes | No |
| Uneven bars | No | Yes |
| Balance beam | No | Yes |
These are the international artistic event programs. A club can use a wider variety of equipment in recreational lessons. The table does not establish which apparatus a beginner may explore.
Floor: the same size area, different composition
Both programs use a marked 12-by-12-metre performance area. Women’s floor uses music and combines acrobatics with dance and choreography requirements. Men’s floor has its own acrobatic and non-acrobatic composition requirements and is performed without music.
Timing, element recognition and content rules come from separate Codes. The difference is broader than whether music is playing. The floor music explanation addresses that frequently noticed distinction.
Vault: a shared apparatus with different rules
The international table height is 135 cm for men and 125 cm for women. The respective vault tables also assign their own difficulty values and define permitted vault families and final requirements.
A viewer should not assume the same-looking vault has the same value in both programs. Youth and domestic programs may use other heights or developmental equipment. The vault comparison covers those distinctions more closely.
The apparatus unique to each program
Men’s pommel horse emphasizes continuous swinging and hand support. Rings combine swings with demanding controlled positions. Parallel bars use two rails at the same height, while horizontal bar uses one high rail for swings, turns and flight elements.
Women’s uneven bars combine movement between low and high rails with swings, turns and releases. Balance beam brings acrobatic and dance elements onto a narrow raised surface.
These apparatus are not matched substitutes. Pommel horse is not simply the men’s version of beam, and uneven bars are not the same apparatus as parallel bars. The apparatus guide explains each event on its own terms.
Scoring and all-around totals
At FIG level, both programs use difficulty and execution components, with apparatus-specific content and penalties. The current FIG Codes and Apparatus Norms provide the authoritative specifications.
A men’s all-around total combines six events, while a women’s all-around total combines four. Those totals are therefore not a direct contest between the two programs. Even on a shared apparatus, different difficulty tables prevent a simple comparison based only on the displayed number.
What the distinction does not tell us
All apparatus demand strength, precision, coordination and control. Labels such as “power” for men and “grace” for women are incomplete descriptions of the skills being performed.
This article compares the current event programs. The separate explanation of why the programs differ considers that broader question without treating the event lists as limits on every participant’s abilities.