OOM, thanks, but it is not my own original thought. That is what I learned in school. And it is not my first post, btw. The following 2 things were posted by me a year ago, on this thread.
1) “I actually learned a very interesting piece of science regarding this bracha. At conception, all embryos are morphologically female. After 40 days (approximately six weeks), the Y chromosome in a male embryo kicks in, and the embryo becomes a male fetus. In an embryo that is supposed to be female, this change does not take place (obviously) and the embryo remains female.
Although I wonder if the Chachomim were aware of this (I bet they were), the bracha being said by the male may be a show of Hakoras hatov of Hashem’s Greatness, that the change which was meant to take place DID in fact take place, and as a result Hashem did not make a (destined) male child, remain female, that He allowed the natural order to take place. We know that there are people with gender assignment issues, and perhaps it is due to something that goes wrong in this process. So it truly is a bracha worth making with real kavanah every day. “
(to which someone posted that I was factually incorrect, so I replied):
2)”Not according to a geneticist I spoke to to confirm what I was being told. While you are correct that a fertilized egg is either male or female and the future gender is already determined at fertilization, the embryo nevertheless remains for all intents and purposes female in nature until around six weeks, when the Y chromosome “turns itself on.” If you know something the doc does not, I will stand corrected. “