Thomas Phinemann, Contributor

If I am opening a can of worms, let the worms crawl where they may. Women need to accept that men and women, though equal in value and importance to any society, are not always equal in the task productivity.

Some of the ways in which men differ from women are not obvious. The sooner we accept gender differences and learn to complement and compliment each other, rather than compete against each other, the sooner we will be able to get on with the business of creating a harmonious society.

It is not acceptable for women to raise the gender issue at their convenience. Some jobs are more suitable to men than women, and vice versa. This is an incontrovertible fact.

Many of us, like Prime Minister Bruce Golding, see our role as protector of women and children and would not be able to sleep comfortably at night or even be at ease during the day, knowing that our policewomen are forced to deal with the heartless murderers who are likely to engage the police in shoot-outs.

Policewomen on the front line

We would prefer to have the Jamaica Constabulary Force properly 'manned' on the front line. We want our women in less combative roles. If this is restricting their right to equal opportunity to be on the front line, we ask to be pardoned, even though we are unrepentant.

Picture this scenario: Imagine being at home and there is a strange noise coming from a section of the house, and the man of the house says to the woman, "Please go and check what is going on, my darling." How many women would see that as acceptable?

We can also look at a situation where a child is crying and there is a car tyre to be changed, and the man insists on attending to the child while the woman changes the tyre. We know that there are many women who are helpless at changing a car tyre, not because they cannot learn the task, but because they regard this as a man's job. Society should let women know that they use the gender card too conveniently.

Research

Let us set the record straight: Research has shown that apart from obvious external differences between men and women, there are many other subtle differences in the way the brains of men and women process language, emotion, cognition, among other things.

Some interesting functions at which men excel are estimating time, judging speed, carrying out mathematical calculations, and visualising objects in three dimensions. According to scientists, this may account for the fact that there are more men who are mathematicians, air pilots, mechanical engineers and racing car drivers.

The male brain is reported to be three and a half billion cells or 18.1 per cent larger than the female brain. The male brain differs from that of the female in other respects also. This is not to suggest that men are more intelligent than women; they are just different.

Men are also endowed with more upper-body strength than women.

Research has also shown that women are better at human relations, and emotional and artistic expressiveness. Women are also said to be more empathetic than we are. The list of differences that we have identified is not exhaustive.

Women ought to accept that men and women are hard-wired differently - and that's a fact they'll just have to deal with.