Do you know that, according to the Guinness book of records, Marylin vos Savant, an author and the most famous Parade magazine columnist, has the world highest IQ?

Your question is too general to be entirely true, but definitely in many fields of human activity male preponderance is noticeable. To a large extent it may be explained by historical reasons. The society being what it was just a short time ago (and still is in many countries. Just read what they write about Afganistan and Saudi Arabia), women did not have a chance to get education, not to mention a chance for advancement in science. It may appear rather surprising that under the circumstances some females managed to achieve fame and world renoun.

The question is being discussed on a regular basis, however. Below is a list of links to discussions at the sci.math newsgroup:

WHERE R THE FEMALES???

http://www.mathforum.org/epigone/sci.math/dehvaygoo

Questions on Women and Fields Medals

http://www.mathforum.org/epigone/sci.math/tangsternang

Women In Math

http://www.mathforum.org/epigone/sci.math/poiserdbry

famous femmes in math

http://www.mathforum.org/epigone/sci.math/whansnexsmim

Female test performance in the presence of males

http://www.mathforum.org/epigone/sci.math/clewhahphil

What is fair to women and How to make it fair...

http://www.mathforum.org/epigone/sci.math/leeflarran