The female urethra is much shorter than the male counterpart. This is the reason women are prone to suffer from urinary infection, much more often than men. It has an average length of only 3.5 cm, while in male this fibromuscular tube is 22 cm long. However, its lumen is one and half times wider than the male urethra. This is the reason why women do not have problems in releasing the urine from the vesical bladder in older age as men usually have (because of its length and prostate inflammation), unless they have cystitis.
The female urethra arises from the internal urethral opening in the bladder wall. Then it goes through the urogenital diaphragm and it opens by means of the external orifice of urethra in the vestibule of the vagina. During its short course, it runs parallel to the vagina on the anterior wall, to which it fuses. Then it extends downwards and forwards as it passes under the pubic symphysis. Like in the male, the female urethra is composed of a muscular coat and mucous coat. The muscular layer consists of smooth muscle fibers, while the mucous coat is made up of stratified squamous endothelial cells.
Blood Supply and Innervation
The female urethra is supplied by the internal and external pudendal arteries. It is innervated by nerve fibers originating from the hypogastric, pudendal, and lumber plexuses.
In the schematic drawing of the urogenital apparatus below, you can see the female urethra at the end of this system. You can also see the difference between the ureter and the urethra.
