In the movie “My Fair Lady” Professor Henry Higgins, trying to understand Eliza Dolittle, complains: “why can’t a women be more like a man?” The answer? Because men and women are different in ways other than just anatomy. Why? This is an area of ongoing scientific disagreement. Theories abound – too many to discuss here.
While variations exist within genders, researchers, as well as you and I, have noticed men and women function differently. That’s the way it is.
For example: a female has the ability to multi-task with greater ease than a male. This means she can talk on the phone, prepare supper, and supervise the kids’ homework all at the same time, while he, likely, can not. But she can sometimes become too unfocused, leading to emotional upset.
A male can focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else going on around him. This explains why men can get upset when this focus is interrupted. Men usually can compartmentalize well; women generally do not.
Both styles have their advantages and disadvantages, don’t they? Neither one is right or wrong, better of worse – just different.
So why is someone passionate about creating health relationships between couples blogging about this stuff? For whatever the reason, men and women are different. We are not going go succeed in having healthy relationships if we try to get a man to act like a woman or a woman to act like a man. Understanding gender differences and learning how to respond to these differences will go a long way in creating healthy relationships.
Here’s a link to comedian Mark Gungor’s Tale of Two Brains, his interpretation of this difference between men and women: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxtUH_bHBxs . Have a good laugh, and perhaps see the underlying message in an entertaining way.
Posted by Jenny Olin, LCSW 
Creating Healthy Relationships Blog 