Hmm - I think someone may have a short career

Thursday, 25 August 2005, 09:57 GMT 10:57 UK
'Men cleverer than women' claim

A study to be published later this year in the British Journal
of Psychology says that men are on average five points ahead on
IQ tests.

Paul Irwing and Professor Richard Lynn claim the difference
grows when the highest IQ levels are considered.

Their research was based on IQ tests given to 80,000 people and
a further study of 20,000 students.

'Widening gap'

Dr Irwing, a senior lecturer in organisational psychology at
Manchester University, told the Today programme on BBC Radio
Four that up until the age of 14, the study showed there was no
difference between the IQs of boys and girls.

"But beyond that age and into adulthood there is a difference of
five points, which is small but it can have important
implications," he said.

"This is against a background of women dramatically overtaking
men in educational attainment and making very rapid advances in
terms of occupational achievement."

The academics used a test which is said to measure "general
cognitive ability" - spatial and verbal ability.

As intelligence scores among the study group rose, the academics
say they found a widening gap between the sexes.

There were twice as many men with IQ scores of 125, for example,
a level said to correspond with people getting first-class
degrees.

At scores of 155, associated with genius, there were 5.5 men for
every woman.

Nobel prize-winners

Dr Irwing told The Times, the differences "may go some way to
explaining the greater numbers of men achieving distinctions of
various kinds, such as chess grandmasters, Fields medallists for
mathematics, Nobel prize-winners and the like".

The paper will argue that there is evidence that at the same
level of IQ, women are able to achieve more than men "possibly
because they are more conscientious and better adapted to
sustained periods of hard work".

Earlier this year, the president of Harvard University Lawrence
Summers sparked controversy when he suggested at a seminar that
one reason men outperformed women in maths and science was
genetics.

Several guests walked out of the conference after hearing the
comments.

Dr Summers, who has apologised repeatedly for his remarks, said
later that the shortage of senior female academics was partly
caused by child-minding duties, which restricted working hours.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4183166.stm

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