I believe that this increased muscle mass is why the myth of men as the stronger sex has persisted for so long even though in fact, men are biologically fragile. Men on average have greater muscle mass, which endows them with the ability to outperform females when it comes to most physical feats. Your book has been called a powerful antidote to the myth that women are the weaker sex. As well, females have two populations of cells, one which predominantly uses one X over the other, which can cooperate and interact and share genetic resources with one another to overcome the various challenges of life. Why is it an advantage to have two X chromosomes, as opposed to an X and a Y?įirst of all, females have 1,000 extra genes by virtue of having two X chromosomes. This set me on the path to search for a biological explanation for what I was observing. The baby boys, by and large, seemed to struggle far more than the baby girls, and since behavioural factors couldn’t account for this differential I observed, I was left with the lingering question as to why this might be the case. But it was when I was taking care of premature babies that it became clear to me that the sex-based health outcomes that I was observing between the baby boys and baby girls I was caring for could not be behavioural in origin. Except everything I saw during my clinical practice and research work indicated otherwise. I was taught in medical school that most of the differences in health outcomes between the sexes was behavioural. How did the thought occur to you, that women might be the stronger sex?

' The Better Half: On the Genetic Superiority of Women' makes the game-changing case that females have greater resilience, immunity, endurance and more, compared with males. Sharon Moalem is an award-winning genetics researcher, physician and author. Italian Nobel laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini

The better half genetic superiority