Difference between revisions of "Men Are Exceptional"

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Men and women vary in many ways. The debate has raged for a long time about whether this is more likely to be a result of nature or nurture. Some feminist groups tend to maintain that the differences are socialised and thus very much within the nurture camp. Recent research has shown that there are fundamental differences between human males and females, and that behavioural differences are evident even a few days after birth. So while some differences are certainly socialised we cannot any longer ignore or dismiss the fundamental differences that exist between human males and females.
== Variance ==
 
   
  +
It is the thesis of this article that a large proportion of observed differences between male and female life outcomes can be explained with reference to only one difference: variance. Men tend to vary in characteristics more than women. This has been shown to be true for all characteristics that have been studied and there is good evidence to suggest it is generally true.<ref>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19031491</ref> This is often known as ''Greater Male Variability'' or the ''variability hypothesis'' although it would perhaps be better called a theory now as evidence builds. It is notable that this notion fell out of favour as a result of the activities of feminists in academia.<ref>http://gem.greenwood.com/wse/wsePrint.jsp?id=id670</ref>.
Men and women vary from each other in many ways. The debate has raged for a long time about whether this is more likely to be a result of nature or nurture. Some feminist groups tend to maintain that the differences are socialised and thus very much within the nurture camp. Recent research has shown that there are fundamental differences between men and women, even within brain structures. Despite this the human species tends to show low sexual dimorphism. The apparent contradiction between these statements can be explained if we accept that humans are essentially ''programmed'' to recognise sexual differences. We see males and females and easily notice the differences. In reality the similarities between males and females far outweigh the differences. When researchers have compared human sexual dimorphism to other species it has been shown than human sexual dimorphism is lower than a large proportion of species. The existing gender differences do reflect in differences in behaviour and life outcomes however.
 
   
It is the thesis of this article that a large proportion of observed differences between male and female life outcomes can be explained with reference to only one difference: Men tend to vary in characteristics more than women. This has been shown to be true for all characteristics that have been studied and there is good evidence to suggest it is generally true.<ref>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19031491</ref> Men vary more in height, weight and many other physical characteristics. While the average intelligence of men and women are the same or almost the same what is clear is that males vary more than females in intelligence.<ref>http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886906000420</ref> It even appears this may be true when it comes to personality<ref>http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/do-men-have-more-varied-personalities.html</ref>
+
Men vary more in height, weight and many other physical characteristics. While the average intelligence of men and women are the same or almost the same what is clear is that males vary more than females in intelligence.<ref>http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886906000420</ref> This means that a majority of people with high IQs will be men as will a majority of people with a low IQ. The further we get from the mean the more pronounced this phenomenon is. Astoundingly, greater variance among men even appears to be true when it comes to personality.<ref>http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/do-men-have-more-varied-personalities.html</ref>
 
Of course there are other differences between men and women and they do contribute to observed behaviours and life outcomes. Men are more likely to engage in risky behaviour. This is one of the reasons that men have a lower life expectancy around the world. In addition, men are less likely to engage is consensus based decision making. Today consensus based decision making is often touted as superior but in reality it has some serious limitations. The group may assess a narrower range of options than they would if consensus was considered less important. In addition, individuals that don't need to seek consensus can engage in endeavours that no one else believes in. This involves forging out on their own even when their peers suggest the course of action is pointless or even dangerous. Men are thus more likely to experiment and create and develop even if the rest of the community is against them doing it. These characteristics, and others certainly contribute to observed behaviour and life outcomes along with the greater variance among men.
 
   
 
Everywhere we go we see the same trend. Men tending to dominate at the top of society with other men tending to fall to the bottom of society, with a smaller group of men and most women clustered in the middle.
 
Everywhere we go we see the same trend. Men tending to dominate at the top of society with other men tending to fall to the bottom of society, with a smaller group of men and most women clustered in the middle.
   
When the females of a species invest significantly more energy in to reproduction than males then the size of the next generation is largely constrained by the number of fertile females. As a result of this a species can generally tolerate the loss of a male more easily than the loss of a female. It thus makes sense for a species to allow males to vary more in their characteristics. If a characteristic is disadvantageous to a species then the loss of males will be less damaging than the loss of females. If the characteristics is advantageous it can be spread to the rest of the community. Thus testing new characteristics on males is an advantage to a species overall and so we find men vary in their characteristics more than women. In effect the loss of women will constrain the size of the next generation, the loss of men will constrain genetic diversity.
+
When the females of a species invest significantly more energy in to gestation than males, as is the case for humans, then the size of the next generation is largely constrained by the number of fertile females. As a result of this a species can generally tolerate the loss of a male more easily than the loss of a female. It thus makes sense for a species to allow males to vary more in their characteristics. If a characteristic is disadvantageous to a species then the loss of males will be less damaging than the loss of females. If a characteristic is advantageous it can be spread to the rest of the species. Thus testing new characteristics on males is an advantage to a species overall and so we find men vary in their characteristics more than women. In effect the loss of women will constrain the size of the next generation, the loss of men will constrain genetic diversity. This does not justify male disposability though. Even if men were biologically disposable in the past, they no longer need to be. The Earth carries more than seven billion people today and could be carrying 10 or 11 billion within a few decades. We no longer need the ability to rapidly recover numbers, thus any presumed bias towards male disposability that existed in the past no longer applies.
 
This is generally true for any species where females must invest significantly more energy into reproduction than males. Thus most mammal species follow the same trend.
 
 
In the case of humans the greater variance among men leads to significant implications for society.
 
 
== Consequences ==
 
 
These tendencies has a widespread and profound impact on the human species and human civilisation and goes a very long way to explaining the observed differences between men and women in terms of life choices and
 
outcomes.
 
 
Income differential is partly a result of exceptionality but many other factors are
 
relevant too.
 
 
=== Scientific Research ===
 
 
Scientific advancements have been overwhelmingly conducted by men.
 
 
Some argue that female scientists have been marginalised and their accomplishments attributed to men. That may be true in
 
some cases but the reverse is true also. Marie Curie is often remembered for conducting groundbreaking research in to radioactivity. Most know her name, but her know that she collaborated with two other scientists for this work - her husband Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel. Both Marie and Pierre were responsible for the discovery of ''Polonium'' and ''Radium''.
 
 
Marie was actually the junior of the three scientists. Despite this she is often believed by the wider community to have made significant discoveries on her own with the efforts of her husband and Becquerel forgotten.
 
 
=== Medicine ===
 
 
Today, more than half of all doctors are women but they tend to become general practioners. Most specialists are men. This can be explained through the greater variance among men. If we take surgery as an example. A surgeon needs to be intelligent, to have achieved both a medical degree and to have passed in this demanding speciality. But that isn't sufficient. A surgeon needs an exceptionally steady hand and good manual dexterity - this cannot be taught. An individual either has these characteristics or they do not.<ref>http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080821080510AA8cKS5</ref>
 
 
=== Business ===
 
 
Business and political leaders are overwhelmingly men.
 
 
=== Politics ===
 
 
Evidence suggests that men have always dominated among societies leaders. This is reflected in the modern world with men dominating among politicians in every country today except Rwanda. Rwanda is an exception because men were overwhelmingly the victims of the ''Rwanda Genocide'' and even today constitute only 46.5% of the population.<ref>http://statistics.gov.rw/publications/article/women-account-majority-rwandan-population</ref> Everywhere else men dominate in political life. There are probably several reasons for this, including the greater tendency of men to take risks, however human variance is also factor.
 
 
=== Criminality and incarceration ===
 
 
Criminals and prison inmates are overwhelmingly men. Men are more likely to be charged with an offence, more likely to be convicted of an offence, and if they are convicted they are more likely to be incarcerated and will on average serve a significantly longer sentence. This is all true even when the circumstances surrounding the offence are substantially similar. When men do experience hard times they are far less likely to receive assistance from the community or the state.
 
   
 
Among humans the greater variance among men leads to significant implications for society. These tendencies have a widespread and profound impact on the human species and human civilisation and go a very long way to explaining the observed differences between men and women in terms of life choices and outcomes.
Since men vary more in personality, in capabilities, and are over-represented among those with low IQ it follows that men should be over-represented among those who are anti-social, have difficulty fitting in and following societies rules. These are precisely the pdeople most likely to commit offences and be imprisoned.
 
   
  +
Since men vary more in characteristics it follows that they will be over-represented among the highest achievers in many areas. The lowest achievers in an area, those not suitable for employment or endeavour in that area, will generally choose to not work in that area. As a result when we look at most areas of achievement we should see the highest levels dominated by men with the rest of the men in the field and most women among those who perform in the field competently but without great distinction. If the highest achievers in a field are mostly men then we should expect the highest paid members of the field to be mostly men too.
Thus even when all else is equal we should more men than women to commit offences and be incarcerated.
 
   
  +
A particularly notable area is scientific achievement which has been overwhelmingly conducted by men. Some argue that female scientists have been marginalised and their accomplishments attributed to men. That may be true in some cases but the reverse is true also. Marie Curie is often remembered for conducting ground breaking research in to radioactivity. Most know her name, but few know that she collaborated with two other scientists for this work - her husband Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel. Marie was actually the junior of the three scientists. Despite this she is often believed by the wider community to have made significant discoveries on her own with the efforts of her husband and Becquerel forgotten. Both Marie and Pierre were responsible for the discovery of ''Polonium'' and ''Radium'' although today these discoveries are often attributed to Marie alone.
=== Music ===
 
   
 
In medicine, more than half of all doctors are women but they tend to become general practitioners. Most specialists are men. A good example is surgery. A surgeon needs to be intelligent, to have achieved both a medical degree and to have passed in this demanding speciality. But that isn't sufficient. A surgeon needs an exceptionally steady hand and good manual dexterity - this cannot be taught. An individual either has these characteristics or they do not.<ref>http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080821080510AA8cKS5</ref> Even if we ignore other contributing factors the greater variance among men in intelligence, manual dexterity and endurance should lead to the conclusion that most surgeons will be men.
Vast majority of composers are men
 
   
  +
Business and political leaders are overwhelmingly men. Just as with scientific endeavour, men will dominate among those who are over-achievers in business with other men and most women performing competently.
Majority of musicians are men. Many orchestras have around 25-30% female
 
participation<ref>http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/where-are-all-the-female-musicians-8343938.html</ref>
 
   
 
Evidence suggests that men have always dominated among societies leaders. This is reflected in the modern world with men dominating among politicians in every country today except Rwanda. Rwanda is an exception because men were overwhelmingly the victims of the ''Rwanda Genocide'' and even today constitute only 46.5% of the population.<ref>http://statistics.gov.rw/publications/article/women-account-majority-rwandan-population</ref>
Vast majority of jazz musicians are men.
 
   
 
Since men vary more in personality, in capabilities, and are over-represented among those with low IQ it follows that men should be over-represented among those who are anti-social, have difficulty fitting in and following societies rules. These are precisely the people most likely to commit offences and be imprisoned. This is what we do see in societies around the world.
=== Employment ===
 
   
 
It should be noted that all else being equal men are more likely to be charged with an offence, more likely to be convicted of an offence, and if they are convicted they are more likely to be incarcerated and will on average serve a significantly longer sentence. This is all true even when the circumstances surrounding the offence are substantially similar. Thus the higher proportion of male prison inmates cannot be explained by variance alone and is a function of institutional bias against men in the judicial system of many countries.
It a reasonably obvious position to claim that employers will generally want to employ people who perform can the work involved in that job to a reasonable standard. It can often be difficult to differentiate people who would be exceptional at performing the work. The threshold for most jobs is naturally set at a level such that the majority of the population could reasonably do the work. The bottom few percent of the population (as measured by job specific capability) will be the ones most likely to be unable to obtain employment. The bottom few percent of the population will be dominated by men. Thus, based on gender variance we should except men to have a higher unemployment rate than women, all else being equal.
 
   
  +
The vast majority of composers are men.<ref>http://www.classical-music.com/blog/gender-gap</ref> Music composition shows the same pattern that we see in other areas of endeavour. Those who have little or only average capabilities in music composition will not generally pursue this as a career. In contrast those who excel at music composition will pursue it as a career. Similarly, the majority of musicians are men. Many orchestras have around 25-30% female participation.<ref>http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/where-are-all-the-female-musicians-8343938.html</ref> We should see the greatest domination by men in areas where individuality is most important. Among all areas of music the greatest gender disparity exists in jazz. This is also the area of music where individuality is most important, with the high emphasis on creativity and improvisation.
== Y Chomosome ==
 
   
  +
A notable area dominated by men is the game of chess. Chess is notable because it does not require physical strength, manual dexterity or any physical characteristics other than the ability to communicate. Chess does not require any knowledge other than knowledge of chess. Even having a high IQ is not a guarantee of success in chess. Like many fields of endeavour hard work and commitment are necessary along with innate ability. Having said that, chess is perhaps the purest example of exceptionality we have. The vast majority of chess grand masters are men.
Quite a lot has been made of the poor Y chromosome of late. Claims are made that it is small, broken and inadequate. This is just more casual misandry. Those making statements like this have, at least, a fundamentally flawed view of human sexual selection and genetics. The y-chromosome is the basis of the exceptionality of men. It destabilises human genetics, which is precisely what you need to have exceptional individuals. It is why more male foetuses abort but it is also why there are more male nobel prize winners, and great poets. Many of those denigrating the y-chromosome are ignoring the evidence right in
 
front of their eyes. They try to presume to understand the effects of the y-chromosome when all they need to do is look at the world to find them. It is exceptional individuals, overwhelmingly men, who have built the world.
 
   
  +
Men even dominate in knowledge based game shows.<ref>http://www.mgtowforums.com/forums/mgtow-general-discussion/12729-jeopardy-$50k-top-winners-gender-breakdown.html</ref>
This is the elephant in the corner when it comes to discussions about gender. Women who want to achieve need only go out and do so - just as capable women have done in the past.
 
   
 
It is a reasonably obvious position to claim that employers will generally want to employ people who can perform the work involved in that job to a reasonable standard. It can often be difficult to differentiate people who would be exceptional at performing the work. The bottom few percent of the population (as measured by job specific capability) will be the ones most likely to be unable to obtain employment. The bottom few percent of the population will be dominated by men. Thus, based on gender variance alone we may expect men to have a higher unemployment rate than women.
== Conclusion ==
 
   
 
Quite a lot has been made of the y-chromosome of late. Claims are made that it is small, broken and inadequate. This is just more casual misandry. Those making statements like this have, at least, a fundamentally flawed view of human sexual selection and genetics. The y-chromosome is the basis of the exceptionality of men. It destabilises human genetics, which is precisely what you need to have exceptional individuals. It is why more male foetuses abort but it is also why there are more male Nobel prize winners, and great poets. Many of those denigrating the y-chromosome are ignoring the evidence right in front of their eyes.
This article has discussed at length the notion of greater variation, the negative and positive consequences of this and how they explains many of the historical trends observed.
 
   
 
This article has discussed the notion of greater variation, the negative and positive consequences of this and how they explain many of the historical trends observed. History is replete with powerful, famous and successful women but they were typically a minority.
It should be obvious to everyone today that women perform wide vaiety of paid employment competently. This is not new with
 
women having participated in the workforce of a community throughout history. The idea that women were forced to stay home
 
and cook and clean through the ages until a recent emancipation just does not stand up to even a cursory review of the
 
range of human societies that have existed through time. Most women, however, tend to choose work that is clean and safe.
 
Most women are clustered near the middle of society - most in safe and moderatelty well paying employment. Relatively few
 
women are homeless and outcasts from society, and few are making radical achievements that will fundamentally change the
 
state of human affairs.
 
   
  +
The notion of greater variance among men has been discussed for decades and is, perhaps not surprisingly, not popular in feminist discourse. In 2005 Lawrence Summers, then the president of Harvard University, speculated on greater variance among men and the resultant domination of certain fields, particularly physical sciences, by men. Despite the fact that he made it clear that he was not criticising the suitability of women to physical sciences, he was publicly castigated and was subsequently the subject of a no-confidence motion by a faculty at Harvard. Harvard subsequently launched various initiatives to advance women in academia over the following months. It is likely that Summers innocent comments on gender variance and the subsequent outrage were major contributors to his resignation the following year.
The world needs men. Human civilisation needs men. Many areas of employment are overwhelmingly performed by men. Despite high levels of youth unemployment around the world young women are not even trying to work in these areas. Perhaps most women could do these jobs but we can't know, given that most of them won't even try.
 
   
 
In the end statistical analysis of the relative merits of different groups of humans is interesting but it says nothing about the ability of a particular individual human to achieve. Just because men dominate in a particular field does not mean that any given man is able to achieve in that field and it does not mean that any given woman cannot achieve in that field.
Men are over-represented in the top rankings of virtually every area of endeavour. Some people look up, see mostly men and make claims of patriarchy. Those people need to look down. If they do they will
 
also see mostly men.
 
   
 
The title of this article may seem incendiary and may have caused some people to become angry. The title is of course a pun. Men are exceptional - but this means that men are over-represented among the most successful people in society but also over-represented among the least successful people in society. The title is offered as proof that Hanna Rosin, author of "The End of Men" and "Men are Obsolete" is not the only person who can write articles with provocative titles.
If society really is a meritocracy, as the evidence presented in this article tends to suggest, then the most important characteristic that will determine success in life is merit.
 
   
 
In general if you have a group of people who are competing on equal terms for top roles the most capable will be most likely to gain these roles. In many cases we can expect more men than women to be among the over-achievers and among the under-achievers. But the top roles are taken by the over-achievers, who are more likely to be men.
Even preferences cannot fully explain the gender bias seen in many areas of endeavour, as the bias tends to get more significant as one approaches tbe most exceptional levels of achievement.
 
   
  +
It should be noted that nothing in this article should be taken as being negative towards women. Women and men are needed for a properly functioning society. This article should also not be construed as suggesting that women cannot achieve at the highest levels. An individual is not constrained by the norms for their gender. Just because there are fewer women at the highest levels of achievement in many areas does not mean, in general, that a particular woman cannot be the best at what they do. It does mean though that most areas of achievement will be dominated by men. In many ways, men represent the best and worst of humanity.
In the end statistical analysis of the relative merits of different groups of humans is interesting but it says nothing about the ability of a particular individual human to achieve. Just because men dominate in positions
 
of political power does not mean that any given man is suitable for public office.
 
   
  +
== External Links ==
The title of this article may seem incendiary and may have caused some people to become angry. The title is of course a pun. Men are exceptional - but this means that men are over-represented among the most successful people in society but also over-represened among the least successful people in society. The title is offered as proof that
 
Hanna Rosin, author of "The End of Men" and "Men are Obsolete" is not the only person who an write articles with provocative titles.
 
   
  +
*[http://www.aei.org/publication/2016-sat-test-results-confirm-pattern-thats-persisted-for-45-years-high-school-boys-are-better-at-math-than-girls/ Discussion on SAT results at AEI]
The upshot here is that if you have a group of people who are competing for top roles the most capable will be most likely to gain these roles. In many cases we can expect more men than women to be among the
 
over-achievers and among the under-achievers. But the top roles are taken by the over-achievers, who are more likely to be
 
men. As such it is important that we guarantee humans ''equality of opportunity'' but avoid using quotas to guarantee
 
''equality of outcome''.
 
   
<References>
+
== References ==
   
[[Category: Draft Articles]]
+
[[Category:Featured Articles]]

Latest revision as of 04:58, 23 June 2019

Men and women vary in many ways. The debate has raged for a long time about whether this is more likely to be a result of nature or nurture. Some feminist groups tend to maintain that the differences are socialised and thus very much within the nurture camp. Recent research has shown that there are fundamental differences between human males and females, and that behavioural differences are evident even a few days after birth. So while some differences are certainly socialised we cannot any longer ignore or dismiss the fundamental differences that exist between human males and females.

It is the thesis of this article that a large proportion of observed differences between male and female life outcomes can be explained with reference to only one difference: variance. Men tend to vary in characteristics more than women. This has been shown to be true for all characteristics that have been studied and there is good evidence to suggest it is generally true.[1] This is often known as Greater Male Variability or the variability hypothesis although it would perhaps be better called a theory now as evidence builds. It is notable that this notion fell out of favour as a result of the activities of feminists in academia.[2].

Men vary more in height, weight and many other physical characteristics. While the average intelligence of men and women are the same or almost the same what is clear is that males vary more than females in intelligence.[3] This means that a majority of people with high IQs will be men as will a majority of people with a low IQ. The further we get from the mean the more pronounced this phenomenon is. Astoundingly, greater variance among men even appears to be true when it comes to personality.[4]

Everywhere we go we see the same trend. Men tending to dominate at the top of society with other men tending to fall to the bottom of society, with a smaller group of men and most women clustered in the middle.

When the females of a species invest significantly more energy in to gestation than males, as is the case for humans, then the size of the next generation is largely constrained by the number of fertile females. As a result of this a species can generally tolerate the loss of a male more easily than the loss of a female. It thus makes sense for a species to allow males to vary more in their characteristics. If a characteristic is disadvantageous to a species then the loss of males will be less damaging than the loss of females. If a characteristic is advantageous it can be spread to the rest of the species. Thus testing new characteristics on males is an advantage to a species overall and so we find men vary in their characteristics more than women. In effect the loss of women will constrain the size of the next generation, the loss of men will constrain genetic diversity. This does not justify male disposability though. Even if men were biologically disposable in the past, they no longer need to be. The Earth carries more than seven billion people today and could be carrying 10 or 11 billion within a few decades. We no longer need the ability to rapidly recover numbers, thus any presumed bias towards male disposability that existed in the past no longer applies.

Among humans the greater variance among men leads to significant implications for society. These tendencies have a widespread and profound impact on the human species and human civilisation and go a very long way to explaining the observed differences between men and women in terms of life choices and outcomes.

Since men vary more in characteristics it follows that they will be over-represented among the highest achievers in many areas. The lowest achievers in an area, those not suitable for employment or endeavour in that area, will generally choose to not work in that area. As a result when we look at most areas of achievement we should see the highest levels dominated by men with the rest of the men in the field and most women among those who perform in the field competently but without great distinction. If the highest achievers in a field are mostly men then we should expect the highest paid members of the field to be mostly men too.

A particularly notable area is scientific achievement which has been overwhelmingly conducted by men. Some argue that female scientists have been marginalised and their accomplishments attributed to men. That may be true in some cases but the reverse is true also. Marie Curie is often remembered for conducting ground breaking research in to radioactivity. Most know her name, but few know that she collaborated with two other scientists for this work - her husband Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel. Marie was actually the junior of the three scientists. Despite this she is often believed by the wider community to have made significant discoveries on her own with the efforts of her husband and Becquerel forgotten. Both Marie and Pierre were responsible for the discovery of Polonium and Radium although today these discoveries are often attributed to Marie alone.

In medicine, more than half of all doctors are women but they tend to become general practitioners. Most specialists are men. A good example is surgery. A surgeon needs to be intelligent, to have achieved both a medical degree and to have passed in this demanding speciality. But that isn't sufficient. A surgeon needs an exceptionally steady hand and good manual dexterity - this cannot be taught. An individual either has these characteristics or they do not.[5] Even if we ignore other contributing factors the greater variance among men in intelligence, manual dexterity and endurance should lead to the conclusion that most surgeons will be men.

Business and political leaders are overwhelmingly men. Just as with scientific endeavour, men will dominate among those who are over-achievers in business with other men and most women performing competently.

Evidence suggests that men have always dominated among societies leaders. This is reflected in the modern world with men dominating among politicians in every country today except Rwanda. Rwanda is an exception because men were overwhelmingly the victims of the Rwanda Genocide and even today constitute only 46.5% of the population.[6]

Since men vary more in personality, in capabilities, and are over-represented among those with low IQ it follows that men should be over-represented among those who are anti-social, have difficulty fitting in and following societies rules. These are precisely the people most likely to commit offences and be imprisoned. This is what we do see in societies around the world.

It should be noted that all else being equal men are more likely to be charged with an offence, more likely to be convicted of an offence, and if they are convicted they are more likely to be incarcerated and will on average serve a significantly longer sentence. This is all true even when the circumstances surrounding the offence are substantially similar. Thus the higher proportion of male prison inmates cannot be explained by variance alone and is a function of institutional bias against men in the judicial system of many countries.

The vast majority of composers are men.[7] Music composition shows the same pattern that we see in other areas of endeavour. Those who have little or only average capabilities in music composition will not generally pursue this as a career. In contrast those who excel at music composition will pursue it as a career. Similarly, the majority of musicians are men. Many orchestras have around 25-30% female participation.[8] We should see the greatest domination by men in areas where individuality is most important. Among all areas of music the greatest gender disparity exists in jazz. This is also the area of music where individuality is most important, with the high emphasis on creativity and improvisation.

A notable area dominated by men is the game of chess. Chess is notable because it does not require physical strength, manual dexterity or any physical characteristics other than the ability to communicate. Chess does not require any knowledge other than knowledge of chess. Even having a high IQ is not a guarantee of success in chess. Like many fields of endeavour hard work and commitment are necessary along with innate ability. Having said that, chess is perhaps the purest example of exceptionality we have. The vast majority of chess grand masters are men.

Men even dominate in knowledge based game shows.[9]

It is a reasonably obvious position to claim that employers will generally want to employ people who can perform the work involved in that job to a reasonable standard. It can often be difficult to differentiate people who would be exceptional at performing the work. The bottom few percent of the population (as measured by job specific capability) will be the ones most likely to be unable to obtain employment. The bottom few percent of the population will be dominated by men. Thus, based on gender variance alone we may expect men to have a higher unemployment rate than women.

Quite a lot has been made of the y-chromosome of late. Claims are made that it is small, broken and inadequate. This is just more casual misandry. Those making statements like this have, at least, a fundamentally flawed view of human sexual selection and genetics. The y-chromosome is the basis of the exceptionality of men. It destabilises human genetics, which is precisely what you need to have exceptional individuals. It is why more male foetuses abort but it is also why there are more male Nobel prize winners, and great poets. Many of those denigrating the y-chromosome are ignoring the evidence right in front of their eyes.

This article has discussed the notion of greater variation, the negative and positive consequences of this and how they explain many of the historical trends observed. History is replete with powerful, famous and successful women but they were typically a minority.

The notion of greater variance among men has been discussed for decades and is, perhaps not surprisingly, not popular in feminist discourse. In 2005 Lawrence Summers, then the president of Harvard University, speculated on greater variance among men and the resultant domination of certain fields, particularly physical sciences, by men. Despite the fact that he made it clear that he was not criticising the suitability of women to physical sciences, he was publicly castigated and was subsequently the subject of a no-confidence motion by a faculty at Harvard. Harvard subsequently launched various initiatives to advance women in academia over the following months. It is likely that Summers innocent comments on gender variance and the subsequent outrage were major contributors to his resignation the following year.

In the end statistical analysis of the relative merits of different groups of humans is interesting but it says nothing about the ability of a particular individual human to achieve. Just because men dominate in a particular field does not mean that any given man is able to achieve in that field and it does not mean that any given woman cannot achieve in that field.

The title of this article may seem incendiary and may have caused some people to become angry. The title is of course a pun. Men are exceptional - but this means that men are over-represented among the most successful people in society but also over-represented among the least successful people in society. The title is offered as proof that Hanna Rosin, author of "The End of Men" and "Men are Obsolete" is not the only person who can write articles with provocative titles.

In general if you have a group of people who are competing on equal terms for top roles the most capable will be most likely to gain these roles. In many cases we can expect more men than women to be among the over-achievers and among the under-achievers. But the top roles are taken by the over-achievers, who are more likely to be men.

It should be noted that nothing in this article should be taken as being negative towards women. Women and men are needed for a properly functioning society. This article should also not be construed as suggesting that women cannot achieve at the highest levels. An individual is not constrained by the norms for their gender. Just because there are fewer women at the highest levels of achievement in many areas does not mean, in general, that a particular woman cannot be the best at what they do. It does mean though that most areas of achievement will be dominated by men. In many ways, men represent the best and worst of humanity.

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