An interesting dynamic here -- tall women claiming they don't need a man to be tall, yet we know that tall women are limited in terms of whom they can date by height -- i.e., dating a man smaller than them is unlikely due to social reasons.
Meanwhile, shorter women do date taller. Really, logically, this would always be the case -- if height limits who one can date as a woman, shorter women have the advantage, as they literally have almost the whole spectrum of normal height men to pick from, while taller women have a smaller sub-set.
I'm 6'2", and all of the women I've dated have been 5'6" or under. My wife is 4'11". There may be a "protect me" rationale here, as someone else alluded to - It's very easy to say you can "learn to punch" at 5'9", but at 4'11", a whole 10 inches shorter than you, those women are at a significant reach disadvantage, no? Genes probably push us to mate in a way that smooths out outlier characteristics (like being too short, too tall, too masculine, too feminine, etc.)