A French scientist has claimed that men are more intelligent than women because they have bigger brains.
This week is International Women’s Week, with International Women’s Day on 8th March (Friday) and Brain Awareness Week is next week from 11th to 17th March.
Frenchman Christophe Rodo, a cognitive neuroscience laboratory researcher working on his doctorate at Aix-Marseille University, told local media: “There are differences between the male and female brain.
Asked by French newspaper 20 Minutes “Is it true that there is a female brain and a male brain?”, Rodo said: “If the question is ‘Is there an average difference between male and female brains? ‘, the answer is ‘yes’. There are already physical differences. The brains of men are larger than women’s, just as the size of men is larger. On average, there is a difference in brain volume of 12 to 13 percent.”
He added: “We can also continue, wondering if having a bigger brain means being more intelligent. The answer is yes. It has been noted that, for the human species, the size of the brain is correlated with positive results in IQ tests.”
He continued by explaining that these differences are down to genetics, but also due to the environment girls and boys evolve in from a young age.
He said: “Studies show that some areas of the brain are more developed in men than women, and vice versa. These differences could be explained by societal pressures through education. We do not educate a girl and a boy exactly the same way. We do not scold them the same way, we do not offer them the same types of activities. This would have an impact on brain development.”
But he stopped short of quantifying emotional differences in men and women: “Indeed, brain function is not fixed. There is thus a difference in the area called the central gray nuclei, and especially in the amygdala, the area of ​​strong emotions, which is more developed in men than women. But to say that they treat the same emotions differently, I will not take this shortcut. It’s hard to show and quantify.”
He said: “Genetics can influence some of the behaviours we can have, and behaviour can affect one’s brain. Men and women do not have the same brains, on average, but it is not totally different either. This therefore raises questions about education. Should we educate men and women the same way or adopt a differentiated education to enable them to achieve the same type of brain function?”
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
