1/2 would not be a useful benchmark to compare these 2 fractions because both of them are greater than half. The benchmark fraction 1/2 is most useful when one fraction is less than half and the other more than 1/2. 5/8 is more than 4/8(1/2), and 9/10 is more than 5/10(1/2).
If there are 26 students and 16 are men then that means that there are 10 women.
Using the law of sines, we have
but angles B and C are congruent, so the sine terms cancel and we're left with