Why do women always seem to be feel colder then men at any given
temperature? Is this a psychological or physiological phenomena?

Great question! Having grown up in a household that was constantly
fighting the battle of the thermostat, I've been curious about this,
too. The prevailing view is that the phenomenon of chilly women has a
physiological basis.

Cecil Adams, of The Straight Dope, offers a very good discussion of
this. Below are some excerpts; you may want to read the entire
article.

"Leading theories:

Women have a higher ratio of surface to volume than men and thus shed
heat faster. The reasoning here is that heat generation is determined
by volume (radius cubed), while heat dissipation is determined by skin
surface area (radius squared). The smaller your size, the lower your
heat generation/heat dissipation ratio, and the colder you are...

Men have more heat-generating muscle mass. Muscles are well supplied
with blood vessels. The more muscle, the more blood flow and the more
warmth.

Women have a higher vasoconstriction threshold temperature... The
theory: as ambient temp falls, women shut off blood flow to the skin
sooner in order to provide more warmth to their unborn babies, so they
feel colder. Interesting idea but as yet unproven--though women do
seem to have lower skin temperature when exposed to cold.

Women get colder during menstruation. Supposedly this is due to
anemia, hormonal changes, etc. However, most studies haven't shown
much difference between menstruating and nonmenstruating women in
terms of heat response...

The most persuasive research... suggests that varying male/female
response to temp is largely a result of size and body-fat percentage,
not some fundamental biological difference."

The Straight Dope: Why are women always cold?
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020607.html

Here's a simple explanation by Allison J. Gong, of the Mad Scientist Network:

"I think that women feel cold more often than men because they're smaller. 
Let me explain what I mean. Any three-dimensional object (a ball, book, 
fish, or person) has a surface area and a volume - you can think of your 
skin as representing your surface area, and your size as a substitute for 
your body volume. Thus, every object has a characteristic surface area-to-
volume ratio.
	
Without going into the math behind it, let me say that an object's surface 
area and volume do not increase at the same rate as the object gets larger. 
In fact, the surface area increases much more slowly than volume. Thus a 
large person (say, a man) has a lower surface area-to-volume ratio than a 
small person (a woman). 

Endotherms (animals whose metabolism maintains their body temperature above 
the ambient temperature) constantly lose heat to their environment through 
their skins. A woman, with a higher area-to-volume ratio than a man, will 
lose heat more quickly than a man, and thus feel colder."

Mad Sci Network: Why do women always seem to feel cold, yet men do not?
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/mar2001/984409363.An.r.html

More on the subject:

"Why do women often feel cold when men find the temperature
comfortable? It?s about body size and body fat, according to the May
issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter.

Due to their typically smaller size, women usually have a slightly
lower metabolic rate, which affects the amount of heat they generate.
In addition, women generally have less muscle mass (and muscle is a
major producer of body heat). Body fat distribution also can play a
role. Compared to men, women tend to have less insulating fat on the
upper body and around the waist."

Mayo Clinic: There Are Reasons that Women Feel Cold More Often than Men
http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2000-rst/651.html

"Women tend to be winter wimps when it comes to cold weather -- but
there are physiological reasons why they get cold more easily than
men.

Women generally have less muscle,[says] physiologist Henry Lukaski...
and muscles produce body heat.

'Women are smaller, too,' he said, 'and so have a slightly lower
metabolic rate which, like a smaller engine, generates less warmth.'
 
The fact that women have a higher percentage of body fat doesn't
insulate them... Women tend to have more padding on hips and thighs
than men, but men are more likely to have extra fat around the waist
and upper torso, where it may help insulate vital organs and prevent
core temperature from decreasing. Further, blood circulation to arms
and legs is less vigorous in women, according to environmental
medicine researcher Wayne Askew of the University of Utah, which is
why hands and feet often are the first to feel frosty."

SouthCoast Today: Women Feel Chill of Cold Weather More Than Men
http://www.s-t.com/daily/03-96/03-04-96/2cold.htm

Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "women" + "always" + "cold"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=women+always+cold

Google Web Search: "women" + "feel" + "cold"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=women+feel+cold

I hope this helps to demystify the matter. If anything is unclear or
incomplete, please request clarification; I'll be glad to offer
further assistance before you rate my answer.

Best wishes,
pinkfreud

Awsome! Thanks for the quick and comprehensive response!

I'm sure that Ms Pinkfreud is largely right,  but I'm really rather
big (both above and below the waist; even around the waist) yet I
still feel the cold. I have a suspicion that the blood vessels and
nerves make it through the fat to somewhere just below the
subcutaneous levels of the skin.
Best wishes,
Amber

Hi darrenlu-ga,

  In addition to the excellent answer by  pinkfreud-ga, you
might find this article interesting:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s301760.htm

ldavinci-ga

Thank you for the tip.

~pinkfreud

This is an easy question. BODY LOTION. Try it and you will be cold
too. Most women are always applying lotion and they say never to use
lotion on cold days.

Easy as pie.

There is no doubt in my mind there are exactly two reasons a womans
body becomes cold faster.

"A child's body temperature rises three to five times faster than an
adults, so just a few minutes, especially in Florida, can create a
deadly situation."
http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=745&z=3

1. So as pointed out above, the reason for that is body size. Women
are have larger area per volume unit exposed to to the open air. So,
in the heat they get hotter faster and in the cold they get cold
faster.

2. But there is another reason not mentioned in Snopes. Unfortunately
I don't remember where I read this, but I read that a women has 30%
less muscle mass than men of an equal weight. The exact number may be
wrong, but the concept is certainly right. They have a greater amount
of fat. Although fat insulates the body somewhat, it is not nearly as
much as muscles heat the body in the cold. I would assume that heat in
the body originates almost entirely from muscle contraction. What this
implies is that men will generate significantly more heat. Therefore,
in the summer, men should become hotter more easily than women of the
same size by high muscle content alone. In the winter, women should
become colder more easily than men than a man of the same size.

Size is the primary factor. Muscle mass is the secondary factor. I
know the answer was already awarded but I think that is important.

My theory is that women need to be colder in order to prepare a cozy
"nest" for their offspring.  If the mother has to try real hard to
become warm, her children are sure to benefit as well. Since children
have a much larger surface area they will definitely need the extra
snuggling.