In her review of Gina Rippon’s book The Gendered Brain, Lise Eliot uses the term “neurosexism” to describe the “myth” of brain differences in men and women (Nature 566, 453–454; 2019). Although the field is indeed rife with misinterpretation and methodological flaws, that is no justification for dismissing sex differences in neuroscience (see also R. Voskuhl and S. Klein Nature 568, 171; 2019).

A variety of neurological and psychiatric conditions demonstrate robust differences between the sexes in their incidence, symptoms, progression and response to treatment (see, for example, M. T. Ferretti et al. Nature Rev. Neurol. 14, 457–469; 2018). When properly documented and studied, sex and gender differences are the gateway to precision medicine.

This year’s International Forum on Women’s Brain and Mental Health will feature panel discussions with patients and worldwide leaders. It will assess sex and gender differences in basic and clinical neuroscience, the role of such differences in disease management and clinical trials, sex and gender biases in digital medicine, and how artificial intelligence could exploit sex differences for precision medicine.