Like Vanilla said, there are other factors that take place in forming a person's capacity to perform well in a certain profession. Now obviously I know that you weren't implying that men are always going to be good in math and science, women good at language arts. But while it is true that most men's brains operate on a level that generally makes them more well suited to math and science fields, and women's brains function in a way that generally make them more well suited to more creative fields, I think that the society as well as the demands of a job make this quite irrelevant.
For one thing, in a lot of research positions (be it in science or mathematics) the capacity for creative thinking is a fundamental part of it. Science has gotten to a point where it is no longer just a number geek punching along at equations with a super focused mind bent on nothing else but the task at hand. Therefore, the left-brained, more creative types (which research has shown is represented in women more than men) would really be just as suited to the work as a right-brained person.
I think the trend you see nowadays in the predominance of men in these fields has more to do with social implications and traditional views than it does biology.
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What you've done becomes the judge of what you're going to do -- especially in other people's minds. When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.
William Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways
Your toughest competitor lives in your head. Some days his name is fear, or pain, or gravity. Stomp his ass.
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