In My Fair Lady, Prof Higgins asked the question rhetorically from an absurdly biased, male point of view. Here, development biologist Lewis Wolpert asks it quite literally and concludes there are distinct biological differences between the sexes, in their emotions, language and mathematical skills, health and attitudes towards sex. He does acknowledge these variations can be minimised or heightened by our sociocultural environments. One reason a woman can't be more like a man is that men are "fundamentally modified females". We are all female in the early embryonic stage until, in roughly half of us, the Y chromosome fires up and propels the embryo down the male developmental route. And so evolution has resulted in men being modified women who are stronger, faster and more risk-inclined. So apparently there is science behind our stereotypical gender roles, and abilities for parallel parking and map reading. This is a compelling and persuasive view of a very divisive topic.
