As I understand hunter gatherer societies (and they still exist), women do the vast majority of the work. The men just seem to go off on long bonding hunting trips, that don't represent much in the way of physical danger and usually end up indulging in the local alcoloid.
If you look at the modern Masai, you'll see that this is a good deal true.
So women may seem to do more "maintenance" work.... but the men do the riskier, "dirtier" jobs...Men were also the ones who had to fight and die to stave off raiders and barbarians.
There's an obvious reason for this that has nothing to do with physical strength that you'll hate, but is undeniable. Men are expendable. Since women carry children and human females can only have, at the most, 1 child a year while males can have almost an infinite number by breeding with multiple women, fewer men are needed to have many children. With a drastic reduction in female population, it is much more difficult to perpetuate a decimated society as it is if the male population is reduced. Women hold the key to reproduction, and any society that will send its women to war is risking its future. Mind you, things have changed drastically in the modern world where overpopulation is a problem, but this is the practical reason why "women and children first" came about and also, I'd venture, why women have been protected more in traditional culture. It's not really related to whether women are weaker or less able to function outside of the home, even if that thinking has evolved.
Even so, it's not an easy task for women to work in the fields all day (which is what they did traditionally if the men were out hunting buffalo), care for mutiple children, prepare food, make clothing, fish and do other hunting to "fill in," and protect children, the infirm, livestock, and food stores from predators. This was not less physically demanding in any sense of the word.
Was this less dangerous? Yes and no. It didn't expose an entire group of women to death at the same time which would have been catastrophic from a breeding standpoint. However, women did face death as well, just on a more individual basis.
Still, arguing about cavemen is somewhat immaterial since we don't live this way and haven't for a very long time.
Like giving birth to a child?
Pregnancy and childbirth are still the most precarious times healthwise for women. Ir's also a huge tax on one's energy and mental health. There is no biological equivalent for men. Regardless, there have been countless millions of women like my grandmother who worked in the fields all day, gave birth that night, and went back to work soon after, all the while attending to the needs of a newborn.