Women in Science

The president of Harvard got into trouble for proposing that there may be a difference (in ability) between men and women that explains why there are so few women in high positions in science. Some people, especially a few female scientists, are outraged and demand that he resign.

My feeling (being a woman entering the world of science myself) is that there have been many gains for women in science. We definitely need to encourage young girls to get excited about math and science, but claiming discrimination doesn't seen right when grad schools and medical schools are about evenly populated with male and female students. The disparity does exist when one sees few females attaining positions as full professor or heads of academic departments in the sciences. This could be discrimination, but is more likely the result of females deciding to balance family and work, at the cost of their own scientific advancement. I don't think that's a bad thing. Everyone (man or woman) has to decide how much of themselves to devote to work, family, friends, and other interests. That's an inevitable part of life, and some people are better at achieving balance than others.

Another thing, why get angry at someone for bringing up what could be a real difference between men and women? Shouldn't a university setting be the perfect place for such a debate, or have we gotten so politically correct that we can't point out any difference between one group of people and another without the PC police freaking out? Let me be clear, I don't think women are less capable than men in science. In fact, women may have better communication between the analytical and creative parts of their brain that could make them better than men at asking scientific questions and putting results into a larger context. That's just an opinion based on differences in neuroanatomy. The point is, differences could exist. Men and women are different in everything from their anatomy to their molecular physiology. Let's not try to pretend otherwise.

That's all for now...I have some real science to do. Tell me what YOU think!

More commentary from the Washington Post is available here:
Missing The Point At Harvard by Anne Applebaum
Washington Post; Wednesday, February 23, 2005; Page A19