Question

What is the difference between the female and the male urinary systems?

Answer 1

Males can both ejaculate and secrete urine through their urethra, while females only secrete urine through their (shorter) urethra.

Explanation:

It helps to think of a female's reproductive system as being entirely separate from her urinary system. So, her vagina, fallopian tubes, and more are completely walled off and separate from her ureters, bladder, and urethra.
However, in the male, his urethra begins at the prostate gland, where the ejaculatory duct exists. This is where the vas deferens carries semen down into the urethra.
There are, in descending order, three 'urethral' segments in the male:
a. the prostatic
b. the membranous
c. the penile, or spongy urethra
Since the semen ultimately picks up secretions from that prostate gland and another gland pair, semen can only go in one direction-out-during ejaculation.
Of course, normally the internal urethral sphincter is shut or clamped down so no urine can get in to the urethra during ejaculation.