Akshually… Xander was very much built to be the “weak” character. It was his entire theme and it wasn’t necessarily because he was male, but it was highlighted in the Halloween episode where she saved him from a fist fight before they all got turned into their costumes.
Buffy was specifically created as opposition to the stereotype that the blonde girl always dies in horror movies, if I remember what the creator said correctly. She is at the tippy top of fighting the damsel in distress stereotype.