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| Women: better than men at most things, it turns out Credit: Alamy |
8 March 2016:
here are some things that women will never be better at than men. A female victor of the World's Strongest Man title seems a way off, for instance. And girls will never be better at ignoring directions.
But everything else? It's fair game, and the battle of the sexes is fought on attrition. So on this, International Women's Day, let's do some score taking. What are the ladies winning at? A lot, it seems.
Multitasking
Probably just reading this, aren't you fellas? Your hands are full concentrating on that. Well, according to numerous wadges of research over the years, women could read this with their eyes, feed with one arm, play Bop-It with the other, complete keepy-ups with their feet and whistle the James Bond theme tune whilst imagining the Mission:Impossible one. Easily.
It's a stereotype that seems almost definitely true. In 2013, researchers from the University of Glasgow gave groups of men and women a selection of challenges all at once, including reading a map, solving puzzles and developing a strategy to find lost keys in a field. Then they were given a phone call during the eight-minute trial; if they answered it, a general knowledge test would be given to them.
Job interviews
The cool, composed charm; the obligatory yet restrained braggadocio; the lack of glass ceiling to have to smash... Men must be comfortably better than women at job interviews, aren't they?
They are not. Women might get more wound up about the prospect of facing interrogation, but they also handle the stress of the day better, not letting it affect their performance in anything like the way it does men, who typically ignore anxiety. Those were the findings of research conducted at the University of Western Ontario in 2012, at least. Academics there put 400 students through simulated interviews, analysing their stress and coping mechanisms, then measuring that against their success in the interviews.
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| In an interview environment, women cope better with stress than men Credit: Alamy |
"We found women adapted more proactively than did men," said Justin Feeney, a doctoral student who helped conduct the survey.
"They would do things like seek social support from loved ones, friends and colleagues about their anxiety and do practical things like practicing mock interviews with their friends. Men, on the other hand, reacted with more maladaptive coping strategies. They would pretend it was not happening, ignore it, watch TV and do things that relieved stress, but hindered performance later."
Driving
A survey conducted by Privilege Insurance last year found that only 13% of men thought women were superior behind the wheel, and only 28% of women believed they were better.
But, lo and behold, they are. The study went on to assess 200 drivers at Hyde Park Corner, London. Being marked on 14 different aspects of driving – from observation to speeding – women comfortably outscored men by 23.6 points (out of a possible 30) compared to 19.8 for men. And the worst discrepancy? Tailgating. More than a quarter of men were found to impatiently drive too close to other cars, while only 4% of women do it.
Empathising
This one's a two-in-one, actually. Research this year found that women are more likely to copy another person yawning than men – admittedly not the greatest gender accolade, but it has a more generous explanation. The reason, it seems, is empathy.
It has long been thought that women possess greater levels of empathy than men, especially in relationships, and feel more affected by the feelings of their partner than men (who care more about image, it is said.)
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| Women are statistically more likely to copy this dog Credit: Alamy |
What's more, women rely more on face-to-face social exchanges than men, in turn paying more attention to other people's physical reactions. Put the two together, then, and you explain the yawn-stealing.
Running successful businesses
There may be fewer women leading FTSE 100 firms than men called John, but companies with female board members are more likely to make decisions that benefit everyone in the corporation, rather than just other bosses. The International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics asked 600 board directors about how they cope when faced with difficult decisions. The survey found that women were far fairer than men, considering other employees and resulting in greater overall success.
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| Having more female board members isn't just fair, it will produce better results Credit: Alamy |
"We've known for some time that companies that have more women on their boards have better results," said Professor Chris Bart, who conducted the study.
"Our findings show that having women on the board is no longer just the right thing but also the smart thing to do. Companies with few female directors may actually be shortchanging their investors."
Coding
There aren't many women in software development (in fact only slightly more than 10%), but they are more competent coders.
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| The ease with which a woman could out-code you Credit: Alamy |
A 2013 study on the behavior of developers at Github, one of the largest software communities in the world, found that code written by female developers was favoured by other techies – but only if they didn't know it was the work of a woman.
Not being ill
Women statistically take a lot more sick leave than 'man flu'-ridden blokes – though that could be for a variety of reasons out of their control – yet men may have much weaker immune systems.
Testosterone's to blame, apparently. A 2013 paper by the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University found that high testosterone in men was responsible for a worse response to flu vaccinations, meaning they are more susceptible to illness.