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This has been proven empirically to be very wrong
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Could you point me to some proof? My experience says otherwise. I tought a university level math class for 6 years and my students all came from families which pushed kids (boys and girls alike) to do well in math. In Hungary it's the only way to get accepted to the better schools, except if you're a super-genius.
Still, the boys grasped everything much faster, thought for themselves more, were more creative, while the girls tended to look for patterns, use their memory and tried to relate new problems to previous ones they've seen.
The grades in the end were about equal because what the girls were lacking in ability they made up in effort, but just like with driving, the girls had to force it and concentrate harder while it came much more naturally for the boys.
If the studies that "prove" equal abilities focus only on the grades, then they are missing some important elements in the picture, just like studies that "prove" that women are not inferior drivers focus on stuff like accident stats.
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Check this out - you'll need access to JSTOR or you can trek to a library to check it out:
1.
Sex-Related Differences in Mathematics Achievement, Spatial Visualization and Affective Factors
Elizabeth Fennema; Julia Sherman
American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1. (Winter, 1977), pp. 51-71.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=000...t;2.0.CO%3B2-7
Abstract: This study investigated (a) mathematics achievement (Test of Academic Progress) of 589 female and 644 male, predominantly white, 9th-12th grade students enrolled in mathematics courses from four schools, controlling for mathematics background and general ability (Quick Word Test); (b) relationships to mathematics achievement, and to sex-related differences in mathematics achievement, of spatial visualization (Differential Aptitude Test), eight attitudes measured by the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales, a measure of Mathematics Activities outside of school, and number of Mathematics Related Courses and Space Related Courses taken. Complex results were obtained.
Few sex-related cognitive differences but many attitudinal differences were found. Analyses of variance, covariance, correlation, and principal components analysis techniques were used. The results showed important relationships between socio-cultural factors and sex-related cognitive differences.
I'm sure I could find you several more studies, but it's late and I've got stuff to do. Maybe tomorrow.