Though the facilities afforded by each sex vary according to the age and place in which the incarnation occurs, each sex affords special facilities for the development of experience along specific lines. The lessons readily learned in male incarnations may not be easily attainable through female incarnations, and the lessons readily learned in female incarnations may not be easily attainable in male incarnations. As a rule, men excel in qualities of the head and will. They are capable of sound judgment and steadfast purpose. As a rule, women excel in qualities of the heart. They are capable of intense love, which makes them welcome any sacrifice for the loved one. It is because of this capacity of women for love that, in devotional references to the Avatar, the name of a woman is often given precedence-as when bhaktas (devotees) of Rama or Krishna sing of “SitaRam” or “Radha-Krishna.”
In qualities of the heart women are usually superior to men, and in qualities of the head and will men are usually superior to women. The interesting point is that the same soul excels in the qualities of the heart or in the qualities of the head and will, according to whether it takes an incarnation in a female or male form. The alternate development of specific spiritual qualities goes on through the alternation between the male and female forms, until the development is all-sided.
-Discourses 7th Ed., p323