Why women outperform others as life’s secret geniuses

If there is one theme that has been consistent across the inaugural series of Secret Genius, the brilliant Alan Carr and Susie Dent-fronted Channel 4 game show that has scoured the width and breadth of the country for undiscovered Einsteins, it is that women tend to shockingly underestimate their abilities. The show has seen regular Joes — and Joannes — from all walks of life compete in fiendish, Mensa-produced puzzles designed to test the skills that make up an IQ score. As it turns out, women have just as high an aptitude for this kind of thing — or possibly even higher, if the show is anything to go by — as men. Although the final, airing on 1 March, is an even gender split of two female and two male contestants, the semi-final lineup was two-thirds women.

“Statistically, men and women score very similarly on general intelligence,” says Dr Sonja Falck, a Mensa member and psychotherapist who specialises in psychosocial issues related to high IQ. “There is no substantial difference at all in average intelligence. However, there is a difference in distribution of specific abilities, with men having a tendency to score higher on spatial-related tasks and women likely to score higher on verbal-related tasks.” Clearly, lack of intelligence is not an issue — but lack of confidence just might be. The Secret Genius contestants neatly epitomised this handicap. Take Ollie, the ambulance crew driver with a photographic memory who nevertheless had to contend with crippling nerves (and only entered the competition out of “morbid curiosity” to see if she was “dim-witted and just good at remembering stuff”).

Or sports management consultant Jo, held back by shyness and a propensity to compare herself to her more extroverted brother, who nearly lost one game against the clock because she simply could not believe she’d got an answer correct the first time. Or finalist Amy, a pharmacist, crochet enthusiast and mother of two, whose biggest weakness is “getting in my own way”; her lack of self-belief stemmed from having been bullied as a child. Seeing her overcome her own mammoth self-doubt and steadily grow in confidence as she smashed challenge after challenge has been one of the most poignant and beautiful parts of the show. Whether or not she is crowned the UK’s first “Secret Genius” is almost irrelevant. She’s still a winner, having proven to herself — and those school bullies — once and for all, just how remarkable she is.

This reticence of women to put themselves forward, and potential propensity to underplay their intelligence and abilities, is borne out by Mensa data. The gender breakdown of self-selecting applicants for the world’s largest and oldest high-IQ society is roughly two-thirds men (66 per cent) and one-third women (34 per cent): the exact reverse of the Secret Genius semi-finalist gender split.

Clearly, there are various cultural issues at play here — including the fact that, according to Dr Falck, men with high intelligence are more likely to struggle socially than their high IQ female peers, leading them to actively pursue the social aspect offered by a club like Mensa. But one factor is undoubtedly the persistent problem of imposter syndrome, which plagues an estimated 70 per cent of working women in the UK. A quote that often gets bandied about is that men will apply for a job when they meet only 60 per cent of criteria in the job spec, whereas women only apply if they meet 100 per cent of requirements.

Research by Harvard Business School associate professor Katherine B Coffman, published in 2024, gave weight to this assertion: her study suggested that talented women are more likely to shy away from applying for job opportunities, particularly more advanced, higher-paying positions, because they’re concerned they aren’t qualified enough. On the flipside, the research found that men don’t seem to worry about their skills matching the specific job requirements as much.