http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11449804 Classical nature VS nurture debate. But I strongly disagree that girls have a absolute edge over boys if treated equal. Equality is a complicated matter. Traditionally people thinks girls SHOULD be inferior in math this discrimination against girls causes them to do worse accordingly. The same occurs to boys: they are taught to ignore literature etc and shun it as girly stuff. So girls are not born with comparative advantage. It's all nurture, really.