Summers' remarks on women draw fire

Boston Globe ^ | January 17, 2005 | Marcella Bombardieri

[Jim Noble]

CAMBRIDGE -- The president of Harvard University, Lawrence H. Summers, sparked an uproar at an academic conference Friday when he said that innate differences between men and women might be one reason fewer women succeed in science and math careers. Summers also questioned how much of a role discrimination plays in the dearth of female professors in science and engineering at elite universities.

Nancy Hopkins, a biologist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, walked out on Summers' talk, saying later that if she hadn't left, ''I would've either blacked out or thrown up." Five other participants reached by the Globe, including Denice D. Denton, chancellor designate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, also said they were deeply offended, while four other attendees said they were not.

[leadpenny]

I'm makin' some popcorn.

[snopercod]

Them'uns ain't like us'uns.

[fml]

For example, she mentioned studies that indicate that women score higher on math tests if there are fewer men in the room while they are taking the test.

Interesting

[anniegetyourgun]

"The first was the reluctance or inability of women who have children to work 80-hour weeks."

I had no idea that the men in "high level science and engineering" jobs were doing this.

[carlr]

"She doesn't argue that there can't be any differences between the abilities of men and women, but she said there is vast evidence that social factors do affect women's performance. For example, she mentioned studies that indicate that women score higher on math tests if there are fewer men in the room while they are taking the test.

I guess as a stupid male I can`t figure out for the life of me what possible difference that could make.

[kcvl]

I'm makin' some popcorn.

Plain or butter? lol!

[jeffie77]

this must mean our hormones get in the way of concentration or is it our desire to reproduce gets in the way of earning a living? hmmm...maybe I need to experiment taking tests in a room full of red state men (no metrosexuals blue staters for me!)

[Jim Noble]

I would've either blacked out or thrown up

Scientists don't usually want to black out OR throw up when asked to evaluate data.

I wonder what an objective evaluation of Doctor Hopkins' work would reveal?

A quick Google search suggests that most of her recent "work" has to do with making hay off of false claims of gender inequality.

[kcvl]

Absolutely none.

[JimVT]

It was during his comments on ability that Hopkins, sitting only 10 feet from Summers, closed her computer, put on her coat, and walked out. ''It is so upsetting that all these brilliant young women [at Harvard] are being led by a man who views them this way," she said later in an interview.

.....thereby impressing one and all with her maturity and her ability to deal with factual issues!

[kcvl]

Surprise, surprise, not!

[ovrtaxt]

Didn't Barbie have a similar opinion at one time? LOL!

[jazzlite]

Are my eyes playing tricks on me? I think I am reading that someone from Harvard is saying that women are not men and that men are not women! This man dares to go against political correctness to recognize that each gender has abilities specific to that gender and those abilities might be very different. If we could only stop the distortions which misrepresent what we can bring the table of humanity, we would be so much better off. Congratulations to President Summers for being a stand-up guy!

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning, while those other subjects merely require scholarship.

ROBERT HEINLEIN

[Jim Noble]

I had no idea that the men in "high level science and engineering" jobs were doing this

You're kidding, right?

I worked with Nobel-level medical scientists for twenty years, and eighty hours is conservative.

Real scientists only sleep so they can work, and some of them don't need much sleep.

I don't know why what is necessary to succeed is a surprise to so many women scientists when they leave the post-doc level, but that has been true in my experience.

Perhaps they get so many bennies from affirmative action early in their careers that they are stunned when the bennies go away.

Perhaps Dr. Hopkins recent career move into gender equality has to do with this reality-eventually, even in academia, scientists have to do something.

[ovrtaxt]

Intimidation? A competitive desire to prove oneself? Nerves? Emotional stuff underneath the surface? Sexual attraction?

[leadpenny]

Women are much better at house cleaning (including windows). I take no offense at that nor am I offended when a woman fails to leave the toilet seat up for me.

[Jim Noble]

It is so upsetting that all these brilliant young women [at Harvard] are being led by a man who views them this way

Well, a real scientist would not care.

It's all about the data. Either these "brilliant" young women have ideas, or they don't. Either those ideas are generating data, or they're not. Either the data is good, or it isn't. If it's good, either it's generating constructive new hypotheses, or it isn't.

Everybody at Harvard is brilliant. That's just the ticket to get in.

After that, in the sciences, it's what your brilliance produces that counts.

This is not the English Department, Dr. Hopkins.