Blog ten
I cannot take a position that goes against or in favor of the arguments Summers made in his speech. Realistically, there is not enough concrete evidence that women’s brains work much differently than men’s, if they are different at all. As Fausto-Sterling points out, there is way too much subjectivity in the types of tests that would determine such a thing. An almost infinite number of factors influence the results of the studies that attempt to show differences between men and women. There are differences in race, class, background, sexuality, location, education, attitude, etc., all of which enter into academic abilities and functionality of the brain. So, I cannot say that Summers was right to give the reasons he did for there being a lack of women in high positions, but I cannot say that he was all wrong in his reasoning, either.
I can, however, say that he did not go about presenting his opinions in a very professional manner. As was made obvious by his word choice, he knew he was addressing a very controversial topic that many people would disagree with him on, and perhaps he should not have discussed it at all without substantial evidence to back it up. He used lots of flimsy evidence to display a difference between males and females, like the example of his daughters using trucks as dolls. This proves nothing and does not necessarily show an innate difference between boys and girls. Still, the fact that his daughters did this without being taught gives us something to think about. All individuals are different, but we do have to pay attention to trends that correlate with gender. So, while Summers did not bring any new knowledge to the table, he did raise some interesting points that should be considered.