![]() ![]() I found instead an entirely straight-faced investigation into what Moalem sees as the immutable biological features conferring survival, health and mental advantages on all women. Perhaps poking fun at our gender stereotypes and appealing for us to remember that women as a group are not biologically inferior, as anthropologist Ashley Montagu did in his clever 1952 book, The Natural Superiority of Women. When I saw the title of American doctor and geneticist Sharon Moalem’s latest book, The Better Half, recalling that tired phrase used joshingly by husbands – usually while enjoying better jobs, privileges and pay than their wives – I was hoping for something tongue-in-cheek. All I wanted was a fair shake at the same opportunities as men, to be treated on equal terms, accepted with my individual skills and flaws. ![]() ![]() My response was that I, for one, wasn’t interested in being placed on a pedestal. ![]() Women were to be worshipped, they told the audience. I once spoke at a women’s festival at which the men on my panel were keen to stress how grateful they were to their selfless, superhuman mothers. I’ve always been wary of those who insist on the superiority of one group over another, even when they appear well-intentioned. ![]()
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