“Which is smarter—men or women?” sounds like a simple question, but it’s usually built on a hidden assumption: that intelligence is one single thing you can rank like height. Modern psychology and neuroscience don’t support that idea.
Across large, well-designed studies, the most reliable conclusion is:
On average, men and women do not differ meaningfully in overall general intelligence (often called “g”).
What does differ—slightly and inconsistently depending on the test and context—is the pattern of strengths across specific cognitive skills (like some spatial tasks vs. processing speed or certain memory tasks).
This article breaks down what “smarter” means, what IQ tests can and can’t tell us, what the best meta-analyses find, and how to talk about sex/gender differences responsibly—using proven, peer-reviewed evidence.
What Does “Smarter” Even Mean?
When people ask who’s smarter, they usually mean one (or more) of these:
- General intelligence (g): broad mental ability that predicts performance across many thinking tasks.
- IQ score: a standardized score from a test battery designed to estimate cognitive ability.
- Specific cognitive skills: verbal fluency, memory, processing speed, spatial rotation, reasoning, attention control, etc.
- Real-world outcomes: grades, job performance, creativity, leadership, problem-solving under pressure.
Those are related, but not identical. A person can be excellent in one domain and average in another.
A useful way to think about it is this:
General intelligence is like “overall fitness.” Specific skills are like sprinting, endurance, flexibility, or strength. You can’t crown the “fittest” person by testing only sprint speed.
The Core Finding: No Meaningful Difference in Average General Intelligence
A strong body of evidence indicates no consistent, practically important difference in average general intelligence between males and females, especially in modern test versions and large samples.
One of the clearest sources here is a large meta-analysis focused on a widely used intelligence battery (WISC) in school-aged children:
- Giofrè et al. (2022) reviewed many studies and found no evidence for gender differences in the mean level of general intelligence (“g”), though differences appeared in some specific indices/subtests.
A more recent paper using a fully nonverbal battery (helpful because it reduces language-related influences) reports a similar pattern:
- Giofrè et al. (2024) (Leiter-3, nonverbal battery): males and females performed similarly on general intelligence, with differences emerging in particular task types (more on that below).
Bottom line: If you’re asking, “Who has higher overall IQ / general intelligence on average?”—the best evidence says: neither sex is “smarter.”
Where Differences Do Show Up: Skill Profiles (Small-to-Moderate, Not Universal)
Research repeatedly finds small average differences in certain cognitive domains. These differences are not the same thing as being “smarter overall.”
Here are the most commonly replicated patterns:
1) Processing speed & some memory measures: often favor women (small average advantage)
A large adult lifespan study reports a female advantage in:
- episodic verbal memory
- processing speed
Also, in children’s intelligence batteries, females often score higher on processing speed subtests (e.g., Coding-like tasks):
2) Some spatial tasks (especially mental rotation): often favor men (small-to-moderate average advantage)
Spatial visualization and mental rotation consistently show a male advantage across numerous datasets, although the magnitude of this effect varies and can be affected by training and cultural factors.
In the nonverbal Leiter-3 work:
- Males performed better on some spatial manipulation tasks.
3) Executive control/inhibition tasks: can favor women in some measures
Interestingly, the Leiter-3 study reports females outperforming males on tasks requiring inhibition/attention control (e.g., nonverbal Stroop-like measures).
Quick Reference Table: “Average” Differences Often Reported
| Cognitive domain | Typical research finding (average) | What it means in real life |
|---|---|---|
| General intelligence (g) | No meaningful difference | Both sexes show the full range: average, gifted, struggling |
| Processing speed | Often slightly higher in females | Small edge in speeded scanning/coding tasks |
| Verbal episodic memory | Often higher in females | Slight edge in remembering words/stories in many studies |
| Spatial visualization/mental rotation | Often higher in males | Advantage can matter in some STEM/spatial tasks; trainable |
| Reasoning/vocabulary (broadly) | Often similar | Differences are small/inconsistent across samples |
Important: These are group averages. Individual differences are much larger than sex differences. Many women outperform most men in spatial tasks; many men outperform most women in processing speed.
A Key Point People Miss: Overlap Is Huge
Even when a study finds an “average difference,” the score distributions for men and women usually overlap a lot. That means:
- You cannot reliably guess someone’s intelligence from sex.
- The smartest person in a room could be a man or a woman; sex gives you almost no useful information.
A practical way to say it:
“Sex might shift the average by a small amount on certain tasks, but it’s a poor predictor for individuals.”
Why People Keep Arguing About This Anyway
1) We confuse “smart” with “valued”
Many environments reward particular skills (speed, assertive debate, math competition style, verbal confidence). If a culture rewards one skill profile more, it can look like one group is “smarter,” when it’s actually a measurement and incentive issue.
2) Tests aren’t neutral “intelligence meters”
Modern tests aim to be fair, but:
- Different subtests load on different abilities.
- Time pressure can favor people who process quickly.
- Practice and education change performance.
- Stereotype threat, confidence, and encouragement can affect outcomes.
3) We generalize from a narrow domain
If someone sees more men in certain high-visibility STEM roles, they may assume men are “smarter,” ignoring:
- access barriers,
- historical exclusion,
- differences in opportunity and support,
- and the fact that high performance ≠ purely innate ability.
“So Who’s Smarter?” The Most Accurate Answer
If you mean general intelligence / overall IQ:
Neither. The average is essentially the same, based on the best evidence.
If you mean specific skills:
- Women often show small advantages in processing speed and episodic verbal memory.
- Men often show advantages in some spatial tasks, especially mental rotation.
If you mean who succeeds more:
That depends heavily on environment, training, opportunity, and what a society rewards.
As psychologist-friendly framing (paraphrase of the mainstream view):
There are meaningful similarities in overall intelligence, with some differences in cognitive profiles, and no scientific basis to label one sex as globally “smarter.”
Practical, Real-World Takeaways (Actionable)
1) Stop asking “who’s smarter,” start asking “smarter at what?”
If you’re hiring, teaching, parenting, or self-improving, domain specificity matters:
- Need speed + attention to detail? Train processing efficiency and error-checking.
- Need spatial reasoning? Train with spatial practice tools; improvements are common.
- Need memory? Use retrieval practice, spacing, and elaboration.
2) Build strengths, don’t stereotype
Stereotypes become self-fulfilling: people opt out of practice in domains they’re told “aren’t for them.”
3) Use mixed-skill teams
In work and problem-solving contexts, cognitive diversity helps. A team that includes different strengths (speed, precision, spatial, verbal, inhibition control) often outperforms a team that’s strong in only one dimension.
FAQ
1) Do men have higher IQ than women?
Most high-quality evidence shows no meaningful difference in average general intelligence/IQ, though some subtests differ.
2) Why do men appear more represented at the very top in some fields?
Representation is influenced by many factors besides ability: social expectations, opportunity, mentorship, discrimination, work-life constraints, and what the field rewards. Small differences in skill profiles and variability (a debated topic) may play a role in some datasets, but they don’t justify “men are smarter.”
3) Are brain size differences proof men are smarter?
No. Brain size correlates weakly with intelligence across individuals and doesn’t translate into “sex X is smarter.” Cognitive performance is linked to many factors (connectivity, efficiency, development, education), not just size.
4) Are the differences biological or social?
The most honest evidence-based answer is: both likely contribute, and separating them cleanly is difficult. Many studies explicitly note that sex (biological) and gender (social) effects are intertwined.
Conclusion (Recap)
If you’re looking for a “winner,” science doesn’t give you one.
- Men and women are, on average, equally intelligent in general intelligence.
- Small average differences appear in certain specific cognitive domains, with large overlap between individuals.
- The smartest approach—personally and socially—is to treat intelligence as multi-dimensional, invest in training, and avoid stereotypes that limit people’s development.
