Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Head

Slate ^ | Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 | William Saletan

[tbird5]

Summers in the hot seat

Summers in the hot seat Larry Summers, the president of Harvard, suggested the other day that innate differences between the sexes might help explain why relatively few women become professional scientists or engineers. For this, he has been denounced—metaphorically, of course—as a Neanderthal. Alumni are withholding donations. Professors are demanding apologies. Some want him fired.

Everyone agrees Summers' remarks were impolitic. But were they wrong? Is it wrong to suggest that biological differences might cause more men than women to reach the academic elite in math and science?

To begin with, let's clarify what Summers said. He spoke after the morning session of a conference called "Diversifying the Science and Engineering Workforce: Women, Underrepresented Minorities, and their S. & E. Careers." He offered three possible reasons for this gender gap. The biggest, he suggested, was that fewer mothers than fathers are willing to spend 80 hours a week away from their kids. The next reason was that more boys than girls tend to score very high or very low on high-school math tests, producing a similar average but a higher proportion of scores in the top percentiles, which lead to high-powered academic careers in science and engineering. The third factor was discrimination by universities. Summers said repeatedly that Harvard and other schools should work to eliminate discrimination. But he theorized that it was less a decisive factor than the others, since women were already underrepresented by the time they got to the pool of candidates eligible for top science jobs.

[sassbox]

wow, someone from Slate with common sense!

[Hodar]

Let's add to these findings some other facts.

IEEE shows that less than 5% of the engineering graduates are women. Of these graduates, a substanical percentage chose to drop out of the workforce to raise a family; then may opt to re-enter the workforce later in life.

Meanwhile, men who make up more than 95% of the engineering workforce are all competing for the limited number of management positions. Men typically do not drop out of the workforce for years to raise the family, yet the 'Equality Police' are using statistics to make women represent the management sector in some 'fair' basis.

IMHO, this gives women a greatly inflated role in management, for very few are either qualified, or the amount of time they have spent in the workforce is far less than their male counterparts.

[BipolarBob]

How dare he to posit a likely,supportable but un-pc theory? Hasn't he read Orwells 1984? All are equal, but some are MORE equal than others.

[inquest]

This is from MSN? Wonders never cease.

[Tarpaulin]

Brain structure has already been shown to differ between the two sexes as clearly that of other organs such as the heart and genitals.

However, the differences provide no data to suggest that one brain structure might be more adept at critical thought than the other.

If anyone cares to suggest that there are more "ditzs" in the world than "dopes", I would first question the numbers, then point towards body chemistry and societal factors.

"Like, you know?"

"Duuuuuuuuude!?"

[inquest]

I don't think anyone's suggesting there's a difference in critical thinking ability at all. The difference, I would wager, is in aggressive, get-ahead tendencies.

[Tarpaulin]

Agreed. That's why I had to mention body chemistry. Our many hormones can exert a powerful influence on our behavior.

[An American In Dairyland]

The difference, I would wager, is in aggressive, get-ahead tendencies.

My understanding is that women are not majoring in these subjects or seeking to work in these disciplines BY THEIR OWN CHOICE. Women may just not be interested in those jobs the same way few apply to be road construction workers and plumbers. Feminism demands that ALL women MUST like what the lesbians at NOW tell them to like but somehow it ain't working out. These darned women still want to be mommies. But now the feminists have finally found a man to blame it all on and for once it ain't Bush.

[The Grammarian]

All are equal, but some are MORE equal than others.

That's actually from Orwell's Animal Farm. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than other animals."

[ClearCase_guy]

As a general rule, women will not be able to match the success of men in the fields of science and technology until Women learn to accept theories and hypotheses as inherently non-threatening to their sense of self-worth, and until women learn to accept empirical data as true, if proven to be true.

Women who faint at statistical evidence which proves something they may not want to hear, cannot make it in these fields. They lack an open mind. They can't even tolerate new theories.

[BipolarBob]

OOOps, I knew that. Both dealt with the idea of manipulation of the masses through propaganda.

[M-cubed]

Of these graduates, a substanical percentage chose to drop out of the workforce to raise a family; <<< simple enough PC solution...Demand they stay in the workforce for the good of the Nation...set up affirmative action abortion sites so they are not "burdened with children"