As if lawyer Ankur Sharma needed more hate after representing the perpetrators of Kathua rape case, he has went one step further and made an appalling sexist remark, antagonising one half of the country’s population (not an exact half because our gender ratios are skewed, remember?). Speaking about Shwetambri Sharma, the only female member of the SIT probing the Kathua rape and murder, the defence lawyer told News18, “Shwetambri kya hai, ladki hai. Uska kitna hi dimaag hoga? (What is Shwetambri? A girl. How intelligent can she be?)

Although shocking and incredibly sexist, women of India are not exactly surprised at such statements since most of us have grown up listening such discouraging comments. Women have always had their logic questioned by everyone from fathers to male colleagues. Ironically for a society that values a woman’s beauty over her grey matter, people sure love reminding women that they lack in the intelligence department, that they can’t do math, that they make bad engineers, they are not logical and they can’t drive.

Even a celeb like Alia Bhatt known for brilliant choices in roles and nuanced acting abilities still has to bear the cross of a dumb rapid fire question on a talk show. She is still harangued by journos who love to toss her a general knowledge question from time to time, waiting to see if she falters and makes another tabloid headlines. Even after so many years, female actresses are quizzed about their clothes and makeup on the red carpet rather than their movie roles. Multiple accounts from women in the IITs and Google reveal the hypermasculine atmosphere in these campuses, which are hostile towards women. It's easy to write off women as less intelligent, citing their poor representations in the male-dominated professions. But it's also important to know why. Here are some facts about women and intelligence, the likes of Ankur Sharma wouldn't want to know.

1 Male and Female Brains Are Different, But…

Many years of research says that men and women are equal in intelligence, but differ slightly in other areas. A study conducted by the University of Edinburgh concluded that while men and women have different brain structures, but these differences cannot prove that one gender is smarter than the other. But each may have a specialised set of cerebral skills that may give men and women edge in the respective areas. Like a 2014 study lead by Ingalhalikar et. al says that men have better motor and spatial abilities and women have better memory and social cognition skills.

2 Women are More Realistic about Their intelligence

One reason why we get to hear that men are more intelligent is because men themselves grossly overestimate their own intelligence. A study from Arizona State University confirms that male college students think they are smarter than they actually are and female students are more realistic about their own intelligence. The male subjects of the study were shown to be three times more likely to underestimate their classmates.

3 A Male-Oriented Environment Has a Discouraging Effect on Women

The reason why some men believe women don't do well in fields that are typically male-dominated is because a masculine environment can be discouraging for a woman. Campuses where there are more men than women have always been unwelcoming of females -- case on point Google and IIT B. A 2009 study led by Cheryan S et. al. demonstrated this phenomenon and concluded that a stereotypical masculine environment prevented women's interests from developing, even when it was populated by other women. A field which is stereotyped as masculine by the society, like engineering or computer science, becomes difficult for people who don't agree with those stereotypes and prevents women from joining that group. This could explain why so many women steer clear of male-dominated fields despite having an aptitude for them and stick to fields where they are expected to excel like teaching.

4 Negative Stereotyping Affects Women

The myth of 'women can't be good engineers' or 'women are dumb' becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When such beliefs are perpetuated by the society, women internalise them, which affects the way their brains work, according to a 2003 study published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Three experiments tested that stereotype threat reduces a person's working memory capacity and affects women's math performance.

5 Math Anxiety Affects Women More

Participation of women in fields where math is the mainstay has been always less. But it has more to do with the way women perceive math than their mathematical skills. There is a legitimate phenomenon known as math anxiety, where a person's ability to work with numbers is hampered by their inherent fear of math. And a study published in Plos One states that women, even those who have a knack for numbers, experience more math anxiety than men. This anxiety makes women steer clear of professions that require them to use mathematical concepts and procedures. Another 2015 paper concluded that the fear has to do more with social conditioning, which stereotypes math as a masculine subject, making female students feel intimidated.

6 Women are Smarter Than Men in Progressive Countries

The more gender-equal a country, the smarter its women. A study published in the journal Psychological Science says that countries that are more progressive and liberal produce women who are more intelligent than its men. An article published in the journal Child Development showed that Intelligence is a malleable concept as opposed to a fixed concept. So in the right environment and with the right encouragement, intelligence and aptitude can be developed. It goes to prove that when women are given equal opportunities at education and employment like men, they can surpass men.

7 Female Lawyers may be Significantly Better

Ankur Sharma had better watch out for opposing counsel Deepika Rajawat in the Kathua case because research says female lawyers may be significantly better than their male counterparts. A study led by Dr. Silvia Hodges-Silverstein of Sky Analytics found out that despite being underpaid and undervalued, female lawyers did much better than the men in 70.19 percent to 57.47 percent of the cases.

In a country like India, attitudes like that of Ankur Sharma is very common. But it's important to note that female population of the country is still not at par with men, with respect to the educational amenities they receive. In this Livemint article, the author states that fewer women make it to premier educational institutions like IITs because of social reluctance to invest time and money in a girl child's education. An HT analysis also showed that while boys opted for subjects which are typically considered masculine, like physics, maths and computer science, girls were the ones excelling in it. The poor representation of women in these fields stems from the socio-economic conditions that discourage women from pursuing academic excellence. If we want to see such appalling notions of female intelligence disappear, we should make a conscious effort to stop stereotyping professions and academic fields.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 21, 2018 04:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).