In a showdown of the sexes on Friday, Johnstone Professor of Psychology Steven Pinker and Professor of Psychology Elizabeth Spelke debated whether innate differences lead to the underrepresentation of tenured women in math and the sciences.
In front of a packed Science Center B crowd, they analyzed the data behind University President Lawrence H. Summers’ controversial January comments on women in science.
Pinker, whom Summers recruited to Harvard last year, cited evidence arguing that male superiority in skills like mental object rotation and problem solving provides a biological basis for the argument that men are more talented at math and science.
Spelke countered, acknowledging the existence of differences between men and women, but arguing that the reason “women are as scarce as hen’s teeth” in academia is due to discrimination.
“The debate is not, ‘are there sex differences,’ it’s, ‘do they add up to an advantage for one gender over the other,’” Spelke reminded the audience.
Prefacing his comments by saying that he was a feminist, Pinker stressed the importance of distinguishing between the moral and empirical claims about gender differences.
“The truth cannot be sexist,” he said.
Though Spelke attacked his yardstick indicator—the SAT mathematics examinations—Pinker maintained that “the tests are very good. They have an enormous amount of predictive power.”
Pinker also noted that men and women tend to have different priorities in life; men seek status and money, while women look more for interpersonal relationships.
“What this means is that there are slightly more men than women who don’t care whether or not they have a life,” Pinker said.
Spelke did not address the argument about motives directly, saying that she did not think there was evidence available to evaluate the claim that motives are biologically determined.
She focused on proving the existence of covert discrimination by looking at how gender stereotypes influence the way men and women are perceived.
She presented studies in which employers were given identical resumes—with only the candidate’s gender switched—that found that men were perceived as being more productive than women.
She admitted, however, that “we’re not dealing with overt discrimination,” saying that in unambiguous situations, where one candidate is clearly superior to the other, there is no evidence of sex discrimination.
Pinker later noted that women are not underrepresented everywhere, but only in the hard sciences.
Several audience members said they thought the evening concluded in Spelke’s favor.
“On the Equality of the Sexes” began with arguing against the idea that woman were not mentally equal to men in all areas.
She does this by drawing on the three points made earlier in the essay: stereotypes, discrimination, and gender pay. However, there is room for biased in this article. A lot of her factual information comes from a survey, and as we talked about in class surveys are not always reliable. They allow for error and in this case the values given could be higher or lower than what they actually are. Also, this article does not take into account of race, ethnicity, changing demographics, global economic restructuring or shifting of cultural patterns (Prokos
In his novel, Cantor's Dilemma, Dr. Djerassi uses female characters to address sexist issues arising from women integrating into the predominantly male science world. The characters, Celestine Price and Professor Arderly, are used to show examples of how women have little voice in the field of science. The female characters suggest how women are often looked upon as sex objects rather than co-workers and they are given little opportunity to balance a scientific career with raising a family. By weaving these issues into his novel, Dr. Djerassi illustrates the following theme: Discrimination against women in the field of science is harmful to the progression of scientific exploration. If women are excluded from science, then an artificial limit is put on human resources. (The field of science will not utilize the potential female minds available.)
illustrates the discrimination against women and the issues that arise from a gender double standard society.
Sex Discrimination in the American Workplace: Still a Fact of Life. (2000, July 01). Retrieved from National Women's Law Center : www.nwlc.org
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission chart shows a decrease in gender discrimination since 2012, and remaining at a constant 29% of cases filed at the end of 2015. A straightforward approach is used to propose gender stereotypes by naming, identifying, and understanding the context. An example on how gender stereotyping comes into place, nurses are usually females, and you don’t see as many men in the healthcare field working as a nurses because it is for women. Gender discrimination comes in play when harm is applied to an individual. A woman may want a job that portray the role of a man, and she is discriminated against, and The Equal Employment Opportunity states what laws are being
fact that a person is a woman is still shown to be a disadvantage when
Although, there is proof of cognitive and mental variations in the way that two genders process information. For example, women are shown to be more adept at verbal communication and comprehension while men tend to perform better in the visual-spatial category. On the topic of memory, studies show that women are more sensory and memory oriented. In one study at the University of Edinburgh, psychologist Stuart Ritchie and a team of researchers compared data from many different male and female subjects. As Micheal Price states, “Adjusting for age, on average, they found that women tended to have significantly thicker cortices than men. Thicker cortices have been associated with higher scores on a variety of cognitive and general intelligence tests. Meanwhile, men had higher brain volumes than women in every subcortical region they looked at, including the hippocampus (which plays broad roles in memory and spatial awareness), the amygdala (emotions, memory, and decision-making), striatum (learning, inhibition, and reward-processing), and thalamus (processing and relaying sensory information to other parts of the brain).” (Price 2017). So indeed there are differences, however the similarities between genders far outweigh the differences. McGraw-Hill Higher Education argues that “More equivocal are gender differences in activity level, dependency, timidity, exploratory activity, and vulnerability to stress. There are no gender differences in sociability, conformity, achievement, self-esteem, or verbal hostility (Child Psychology).” In turn proving many once believed facts such as “women and men communicate differently, it's biology” into preconceived
Gender inequities in the fields of math and science are well researched and the results are shocking. Women compromise 45% of the work force, they hold jobs concentrated in clerical, service, and professional fields such as teaching and nursing, rather than in mathematics, science, or engineering (Levin & Matthews, 1997). Gender inequities start in school due to teacher interaction, language, role models, gender expectations, and the method in which the curriculum will be taught.
The ideals that create this gender discrimination are self-reproducing as the reality of what children see teaches them to stick to their gender specific jobs, and employers are taught that they can continue to pay women less and give them less hours without repercussions. This is illustrated well in the example from Women Who Make America. Lauren Weeks was a phone company worker who applied for a higher-paid job that was specifically for men. Her boss told her that men are the breadwinners, and if he gave her the job then all of the women would want a higher paying job.
Rosser, S. V. (1998). Applying feminist theories to women in science programs. Signs, 24, 71-200.
In many cases, women’s achievements are measured according to male oriented standards. I would like to argue with a more diverse approach to this cause. If humanity is comprised of both men and women, and we are equally dependent on each other for humanity’s survival, why are men and women not viewed as equals? These old attitudes are drilled into us from birth. If boys were taught mutual respect as they grew up, gender equality becomes a natural way of life. In the same way girls would need to be taught to set high goals; that they can reach as high as humanly possible. Unfortunately, typically male values and traditions have, over time, shaped the culture in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) fields. This has created, in many ways, a hostile learning and working environment for women. From time immemorial, women have been regarde...
Throughout the interview, Both of my interviewers explained to me how effective gender and workplace can affect a person, and this was the part of the interview I found most surprising. Both party 's said that the more discriminated they were helped them work harder. I mentioned I thought this was what people experience when they both want a higher position at work, and both said it can be very challenging to move up when you 're affected by discrimination, and that the main focus with moving up in a higher position is having a positive attitude and overlooking
Call me a bigot if you want but men are better mathematicians than women. Year after year, men score higher on the SAT’s, more men receive prestigious educations from the best technical schools in the nation, and men obtain more degrees, secure more jobs and get promoted more often. “The ETS report on students taking the SAT examinations indicates that males have traditionally scored 40-50 points higher on the mathematics section” (Women) “In 1996, California Institute of Technology’s enrollment was 75% male, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s enrollment was 62% male, Renssalear Polytechnic Institute’s enrollment was 77% male, Rochester Institute of Technology’s enrollment was is 68% male, and Worchester Institute of Technology’s enrollment was 79% male” (Baron’s). The future for women who enter the work place as mathematicians is no more encouraging. “Roughly three times as many women are unemployed and six times as many women are in part time positions. The female mathematicians who acquire these full time jobs are less likely than men to be promoted to a position such as full or associate professor” (awm-math.org). Females’ lack of success as mathematicians has nothing to do with their mathematical potential. The reason females do not excel in mathematical fields can be explained by high school course selection, social pressures and support and not by genetic differences.
Seligson, Susan. "Debunking Myth That Girls and Boys Learn Differently: COM prof’s book challenges “toxic” stereotypes." BU Today. 10 Jun 2011: n. page. Print. (JUXTAPOSITION)