There's a lot of talk about how catty and competitive women are with each other and I suppose that sometimes that is true, but more often I see what you are describing - women really sticking up for each other and taking care of each other. I very rarely, if ever, seen men doing that. I think there's a dominance hierarchy element to this (of course I think that! 😉) but I'm not sure exactly how to articulate it. Maybe it's along the lines of that lions are leery about getting into scuffles with other lions, but zebras know they need to stick together to survive. Something like that anyway...

Glad he is out of your house.