Women are smarter than men...according to IQ scores.
At least that's what a man has declared. Earlier in the week, a study was released that claims for the first time in history, western women scored higher than men on IQ tests. James Flynn, a New Zealand professor considered an authority on intelligence quotient testing, has been studying patterns in IQ tests results for years and years.
Let me get this straight. A man had to spend years and years conducting tests to determine that women are smarter? Sounds like that information alone is enough to suggest which gender is smarter. (What do I know? I get stymied by those online IQ tests that ask me to figure out sequences).
But there's no doubt in my mind that if a woman did have time to conduct a bunch of tests to determine which of the sexes were smarter, she would be smart enough to rig it so that the outcome would favor her sex. Could you imagine any woman conducting this study and then announcing that her results find men are smarter than women? How not very bright is that? No woman would be that stupid!
Anyway, Flynn looked at scores from across Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Estonia and Argentina. He discovered that when testing began in 1905, men were smarter than women by five IQ points. Because of these results, back in the day, some (male) psychologists determined that women's brains were actually inferior to men's (an antiquated belief that my husband still clings to).
But over time, the gap has disappeared and now, women are getting higher IQ scores.
Why would this be? It seems obvious to me. In 1905, women were expected to stay at home to watch the kids while the husbands worked. They didn't pursue a career or even higher education. If they were single, they held some kind of service job—such as a waitress, cook or maid. If they were unmarried, they were labeled a spinster. And being a spinster was not a good thing. It was not a choice. It was not empowering. Beyonce wasn't singing about all the spinster ladies.
Flynn said that this could be part of it, but he also explained that he believed women are better at multi-tasking—juggling career and family—which somehow has had an effect on their IQ points.
I don't know about this. If multi-tasking affects IQ points, women would be like 100 points higher than men. Nearly every woman I know would be above average. I would be considered a genius—even if I fail the sequence portion of the test. Then again, when I take those online IQ tests, I'm also writing a blog, making dinner, doing laundry, singing Beyonce tunes and feeding the goldfish.
One point? Really? That's it?
Ah, who can trust these results? The test was conducted by a man.
