Reply To: Oh, they just wanna be like men

I understood you to be saying that some women have natural tendency towards fields that were historically typified as belonging to the men and that a balance needs to be found between these tendencies and religious gender obligation.

What I am saying is that being a “natural tendency” does not legitimize a negative character trait.

I do not see how that follows my train of thought.

After re-reading what you wrote, I wonder if you were just saying that women are just as smart as men albeit generally (but not exclusively) in a different way. If that is the case, then I agree with you.

If that was not the case, then I found your position to be too abstract and would appreciate a more concrete explanation and/or example.

That was not my point exactly. What I was trying to say was that halacha dictates certain obligations for each gender, but that it does not follow that the nature of those obligations dictates the characteristics of all those of the gender. For example, women do not have an obligation to engage in talmud torah, but it does not logically follow that women are unable to engage in talmud torah. (Though my point was not specific to intelligence and/or learning; this was just the best example I could think of.)