No it's actually a male thing too! Scientifically proven to grow faster. Maybe that should go in your random fact thread haha. It's something to do with being cavemen and the assumption men eat more protein.
Shorter hair loses shape really quckly when the hair grows so it gets more annoying from that perspective and you notice it more. I recently took up to 3 inches off my dreads and no one noticed. It's the same if I added 3 inches, no one would see the difference so growing extra hair doesn't show much. On short hair even half an inch can make a difference so it's always assumed that short hair grows faster.