Women are better at multi-tasking, and men are better at parking cars. Women are better at dealing with their emotions; men are good at fixing stuff; this is true for all men and women. Well, not quite. Stereotyping does not stop at distinguishing between sexual characteristics, but also at pointing out the differences in the brain. Our understanding of the brain is still very much in development and we recently realised how plastic the brain is, capable of moulding itself throughout our entire lives.

There is a persistent belief that there is a biological difference between the brain of a man and a woman. The assumption was that sex differences, be it in behaviour, function or brain structure, result in the so-called ‘female brain’ or ‘male brain’.

A recent analysis in 2015 showed that sex differences cannot be explained simply and consistently in individual brains, showing that generally humans do not possess brains that have typical female or male features, but traits were found in both of the sexes’ brains.

Another finding from this study looked at personality traits traditionally labelled as female/male, such as weight gain, involvement in housework, engagement in sports, etc. Again, in most cases, there was a mosaic of feminine and masculine characteristics for a single person. A separate study conducted in October 2018 concluded that there is no typical brain type for a woman or man, and large sex differences were only found in some uncommon brain ‘types’.

Neuroscience has shown that our previous understanding of male and female brains is indeed a misconception. Our brains and behaviour develop through continuous interactions of countless causal differences that go well beyond just sex-linked factors.