This is why more girls need to take up STEM subjects in school

There is no such thing as the ‘male brain’ or ‘female brain’, yet there is still a gender disparity in take up of STEM subjects, writes Michelle Murphy

It’s the widely held view that’s helped launch thousands of relationship advice books — the popular notion that male and female brains are wired differently. For years, self -help gurus have been telling us that the reason Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps is down to the simple fact that Men Are from Mars and Women Are from Venus.

Popular discourse has reasoned that while we can’t change this fact, we can learn coping strategies to help us better understand the opposite sex. Now science has turned this idea on its head. New evidence suggests that, in essence, there is neither a “male brain” nor “female brain” but simply a human brain. I must admit, it’s something I’m deeply sceptical about and it’s the first question I put to Professor Mark Ferguson, director general of Science Foundation Ireland and chief scientific adviser to the Government.