Promiscuous Men, Chaste Women and Other Gender Myths
The notion that behavioral differences between the sexes are innate and immutable does not hold up under scrutiny
Volume 29, Issue 1
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Features
What Is the Point of a Period?
Age-old taboos against menstruation have led to a lack of research on how women's cycles work, with serious consequences for their health
Is There a “Female” Brain?
The debate over whether men and women have meaningfully different brains could have profound implications for health and personal identity
Why Are Girls Getting Their Periods So Young?
Female puberty is starting earlier and earlier, with worrying consequences for women’s health
Why Women—and Men—Need Better Birth Control
The IUD is held up as the gold standard of contraception. That says a lot about the slothful pace of innovation
The Science of Endometriosis
Endometriosis spreads like a vine through the bodies of roughly 176 million women worldwide, causing agony and infertility. Science has struggled to understand the condition, but new research is sparking hope for improved treatments soon
5 Things We Bet You Didn’t Know about the Placenta
The placenta does a whole lot more than just ferry oxygen and nutrients to the fetus and take away wastes and carbon dioxide
To Prevent Women from Dying in Childbirth, First Stop Blaming Them
Two thirds of all U.S. maternal deaths are considered preventable. Racism—not race—is a critical factor
Beyond XX and XY: The Extraordinary Complexity of Sex Determination
A host of factors figure into whether someone is female, male or somewhere in between
Pausing Fertility: What Will Happen When the Eggs Thaw?
Technical advances are driving a boom in egg freezing, which promises to let women put off pregnancy indefinitely. But will the science live up to the hype?
Doctors Must Dig into Gender Difference to Improve Women’s Health Care
Researchers and doctors must dig deeper into gender differences before they can provide women with better treatments
The Brilliance Paradox: What Really Keeps Women and Minorities from Excelling in Academia
How a misplaced emphasis on genius subtly discourages women and Black people from certain academic fields
Halting Sexual Harassment
A leader of a major report on sexual misconduct explains how to make science accessible to everyone
How to Close the Gender Gap in the Labor Force
As more women contribute to the economy, life gets better for everyone. Why are the barriers to opportunity so hard to change?
How Captives Changed the World
Stolen people—mostly women and children—were a driving force in the evolution of modern society
The Persistent Problem of Gender Inequality
The gender gap remains a global phenomenon
Why Girls Are Coming Back in Some Asian Countries after Neglect
Traditions that favor sons in Asia—resulting in millions of dead or neglected girls—have started to change
When Times Are Good, the Gender Gap Grows
A study shows growing national wealth and gender equality accentuates differences in the types of choices men and women make
The Truth about Gender Differences in How We Speak
Men and women have different ways of speaking, but research reveals the conversational gender divide is not as stark as it seems
Men Who Advocate for Others in the Workplace Face Backlash
Study shows a cost for males who defy gender stereotypes
Departments
Advances
Implicit Biases toward Race and Sexuality Have Decreased
Why Are There So Few Female Leaders?
More Than a Third of Female Suicides Are Committed by Indian Women
Facebook Use Linked to Gender Equality
Policy
An Issue for Everyone
Bringing Up Baby, Helping the Economy
Unleashing the Energy Trapped within Undereducated Girls
Neurology
Alzheimer's Hits Men and Women Differently, and We Need to Understand Why
Fitness