Oh and one more thing. Let's not underestimate the importance of emotional intelligence and social skills at both of which women tend to outstrip men. From my own personal observations of children during my teaching years, you see this gap begin to emerge very early on. At the age of three boys and girls are very similar, by the time they reach their fourth birthday it's a different story. The girls are far more verbal and use their words to communicate with each other. The boys are still very physical and often play together with hardly a word exchanged but lots of body contact. If two or three girls are working together for example to build something from Lego, they will discuss what they're doing 'Let's put the big red one on top' 'No, leave it, it's going to fall over' etc The boys will work in silence with an occasional yell of protest, grabbing from each other and squeals of joy when something has gone well. Very basic, caveman stuff.
The girls also begin to show empathy. They're still too young to really be genuinely empathic but they are much quicker to imitate the behaviour of their mothers. So, watch four year old children at play in the school yard. Somebody falls over, the boys generally either don't notice at all, or simply stop for a moment, stare and move on. But with the girls there will always be a few who go over straight away 'are you ok?' Then they help the other child up and very often put an arm around them, pat their shoulder, stroke their head and make sympathetic noises.
The girls are so much quicker too, to read other people's moods and in particular to read the teacher's mood! They understand a whole set of unwritten rules that go right over the heads of boys of that age. Here's a typical example. I was on yard supervision duty, there was an incident and I was scolding a boy of about five for his part in it. An interested girl, from the year below him (so four years old) was watching. When I'd finished reading the riot act, I concluded in a very stern voice 'Now I don't want to see that behaviour again. Do you understand?' The boy just stared at me with open mouth, clearly still having no real idea of what he's done wrong. Girl steps forward, digs him in the ribs with her elbow and mutters 'Say yes!' :D
Now fast forward twenty years to the workplace and the story is the same ;)
The girls also begin to show empathy. They're still too young to really be genuinely empathic but they are much quicker to imitate the behaviour of their mothers. So, watch four year old children at play in the school yard. Somebody falls over, the boys generally either don't notice at all, or simply stop for a moment, stare and move on. But with the girls there will always be a few who go over straight away 'are you ok?' Then they help the other child up and very often put an arm around them, pat their shoulder, stroke their head and make sympathetic noises.
The girls are so much quicker too, to read other people's moods and in particular to read the teacher's mood! They understand a whole set of unwritten rules that go right over the heads of boys of that age. Here's a typical example. I was on yard supervision duty, there was an incident and I was scolding a boy of about five for his part in it. An interested girl, from the year below him (so four years old) was watching. When I'd finished reading the riot act, I concluded in a very stern voice 'Now I don't want to see that behaviour again. Do you understand?' The boy just stared at me with open mouth, clearly still having no real idea of what he's done wrong. Girl steps forward, digs him in the ribs with her elbow and mutters 'Say yes!' :D
Now fast forward twenty years to the workplace and the story is the same ;)