These are jobs where women outperform men

A recent study by the University of Toronto revealed that female surgeons may be better at the job than their male counterparts. The report, which studied the past performance of over 3,300 surgeons, found that outcomes for patients who were operated on by women were often better 30 days after treatment.

Analysis showed risk of dying was an impressive 12% lower if the surgeon was female, with readmission no more likely than male-led operations. "We have good evidence to support the notion that female surgeons are at least as good and possibly better than their male counterparts," said Dr Raj Satkunasivam.

"Women and men practise medicine differently, although little research exists on the differences in learning styles, acquisition of skills, or outcomes for female and male surgeons."

However, Derek Alderson, president of the Royal College of Surgeon (RCS), said he did not think the sex of the surgeon "would emerge as an important determinant of a good outcome for patients having surgery."

The debate may rage for a while longer, but there are a number of careers where women tend to outperform men.

Medicine

It's not just surgery women tend to be better at. A study by the Harvard School of Public Medicine found that female physicians also tend to have lower mortality rates in their patients. The report also claimed that if doctors performed as well as the female physicians in the study, it would save as many as 32,000 lives every year.

Business leaders

The International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics shows that women are more likely to consult with their employees, making for a happier and productive workforce. Another study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics and EY showed that companies with at least 30% female board members posted profits 6% higher than average.

Computer developers

The tech industry has had a lot of bad publicity over its perceived problem with gender. Uber and other Silicon Valley giants have faced criticism over their macho, sexist management. Men make up 90% of coders and the amount of women entering the industry is much lower than many would like.

However, one recent study has exploded the myth that men are better at coding . Github, one of the world's biggest repository for open source code, found that developers actually thought women provided better code - but only if it who wrote the code was made anonymous when they were asked to analyse it.