[taxesareforever]

Sounds like he wants to apply for a job at Harvard.

[pjd]

This is total B.S.

I researched this concept several years ago using U.S. Census data and found that even in fields that are traditionally dominated by women (no credible anti-woman bias) The ratio of women to men steadily decreases with advancing degrees. For example, if a particular field features 85 pct. women to 15 pct men at an undergraduate level, it would then show something like 55 pct/45 pct at the Masters level, and maybe 30 pct/70 pct at PhD. - And this in fields like health care, education and library science which have *many* more women than men at the entry level. It's not bias, it's biology!

In the hard sciences, advanced degrees are often essential and there are generally fewer women than men even at the entry level. So naturally, there are going to be much fewer women with advanced degrees in the hard sciences.

[maggief]

[Phocion]

As an Ivy League-trained neurobiologist who oversees a research lab at Stanford, Ben Barres feels qualified to comment on whether nature or nurture explains the persistent gender gap in the scientific community. But it wasn't just his medical degree from Dartmouth, his Ph.D from Harvard and his studies on brain development and regeneration that inspired him to write an article blaming the shortage of female scientists on institutional bias.

At the Ivy League university I went to, the majority of neurobiologists were women. My girlfriend there was one of them. In fact, women dominated biology in general.

Men dominated fields like physics and engineering, although women entering those fields received all kinds of institutional assistance, including scholarships and support groups. Not to mention hundreds of male engineers eager to help them with all of their homework. ;)

Maybe this professor needs some more up-to-date research.

[Secret Agent Man]

I graduated from MU's college of Engineering and yes, there are much fewer girls there than boys, and the number of girls (and guys) over the course of 4 years goes down even further. The girls who make it through generally are the cream of the crop and are, IMO, better than at least half of the guys who make it through.

The fact is I knew women who were there looking for husbands. I knew some women who changed majors into education or journalism because they couldn't handle the coursework. (Many probably could have if they had applied themselves, but it would've meant studying a heck of a lot more than I think they were willing to.)

Bottom line is that people have a choice what they want to major in, and many women don't want to go through what they need to (or maybe didn't prepare enough for advanced courses in high school) to be successful in engineering. The ones who do make it through generally are, pound for pound, better than many of the guys. (And I was lucky enough to marry one of them!)

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

Aside from his unique vantage point, the thrust of Barres' article is that neither Summers nor the prominent scientists who defended his position used hard data to back up the claim that biology makes women less inclined toward math and science. He cites several studies -- including one showing little difference in the math scores of boys and girls ages 4 to 18 and another that indicated girls are groomed to be less competitive in sports -- to support his discrimination argument.

[little jeremiah]

In case you're around, there's so much wrong with this picture that it's hard to know where to start.

[metmom]

...his studies on brain development and regeneration that inspired him to write an article blaming the shortage of female scientists on institutional bias.

Not in my experience. My professors and advisor were pretty miffed that I didn't go on to get my master's degree and that I chose to stay home and have a family instead. They even recommended me to a local employer looking for help; and that was 18 years ago. People will find bias where they want, whether is exists or not. They become overly sensitive to every slight, are way too easily offended, and read too much into things they shouldn't.

Why does this guy think people care about what he has to say?

[samtheman]

Publicity seeking remarks to publicize his/her publicity seeking sex change. What a capital-L loser.

[Physicist]

The one that rankles him most dates from his undergraduate days at MIT, where as a young woman in a class dominated by men he was the only student to solve a complicated math problem. The professor said a boyfriend must have done the work for her, according to Barres.

Two comments:

1) That's horrendously unprofessional.

2) I've never known (or heard secondhand about) a female physics student who's ever had anything remotely like that happen to her during my career. Undoubtedly things like this used to be more common, but I can't believe it's widespread now.

I'll give a counter-anecdote. There was a female physicist who was being considered for a position at a university where I worked. This researcher was very highly regarded; even as a grad student, I knew who she was by reputation alone. I chanced to overhear a discussion about her hiring; there was general agreement that hiring her would be great for the department, because as a woman and a minority, she would count towards two of the department's affirmative-action targets.

Those words hit me like a punch in the gut. Here was someone whose work I admired, someone I looked forward to having as a mentor. But to the department, that counted for nothing: her value was as a token. Her genitals and her yellow skin color had value while her world-class mind did not. And this value was assigned by the attempt to redress the wrongs of racism and sexism!

Can one eat enough, to vomit enough?

[ExtremeUnction]

Who cares if not enough women are in the scientific field?! Maybe they are home having babies...

[GingisK]

Woman shortage in science blamed on bias

Could be that women aren't attracted to science in the same proportion as men. Was anyone aware of the need for male/female balance in science for success? I mean, who figured that balance was an issue?

[goldstategop]

That makes me sick... reading articles by twisted gender-bending perverts. I just can't stand the sight of them.

(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)