The male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems," writes Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, while the neuroscientist Louann Brizendine describes a "female brain" and a "male brain" forever divided by their genetic destinies. Newer, shinier versions take hold every year: "The female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy. If we think we have left behind the cliché "Men think and women feel", Fine persuades us to think again. In Delusions of Gender the psychologist Cordelia Fine exposes the bad science, the ridiculous arguments and the persistent biases that blind us to the ways we ourselves enforce the gender stereotypes we think we are trying to overcome. A parent dealing with a girl's craving for dolls and a son's obsession with war games, a teacher managing boys' boisterousness and girls' diffidence, a couple negotiating childcare and housework and a CEO assessing fair practice in policy and promotion are all likely to conclude that their best efforts to achieve gender equality are scuppered by essential differences. "D o men and women have similar abilities, desires and needs?" is a question all of us must address.
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