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BEST IELTS Writing Task 2, 7th March
IELTS WRITING TASK 2
IELTS WRITING TASK 2
Some claim that men are naturally more competitive than women.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
SAMPLE ANSWER
Men are stereotypically considered to be more competitive than women. In my opinion, though this is ostensibly true, in fact, competitiveness just finds different expression in females.
The traditional argument in favor of this claim is that men are predisposed genetically to aggressive traits. Men have elevated levels of the hormone testosterone. This is supposedly an evolved adaptation as males in human pre-history had to battle one another for dominance and required a surplus of strength to hunt and provide for the whole family. In the modern world, this translates to a heightened aggressiveness often reflected in the number of ambitious men, driven to excel in their chosen field. Numerous studies and tests have confirmed the surface-level validity of this argument.
However, this ignores the fact that women simply have different outlets for their competitive qualities. In the past, societal prejudices often discouraged women from expressing an interest in competitive sports and ambitious career paths. It is now more common for females to embrace their competitive drive and strive for goals similar to men. However, this is merely a redirection of innate desires that were already present. Instead of competing in traditionally competitive fields, women in past generations focused their energies towards more domestic matters. These might not have been as seemingly competitive but women nonetheless had to compete against each other to gain the highest possible position in society available to them at the time.
In conclusion, despite the evolutionary evidence to support the natural competitiveness of males, I feel that the sexes are generally equal in this area though women express this desire more subtly. Such narrow stereotyping of both genders is often overly simplistic.
IELTS Writing Task 2