Sex Differences and Academic Performance Blog

Two more articles

This article, written for Salon.com, looks at the situation of women in the sciences. The author argues that sex discrimination does not explain away the fact that less women are entering the sciences. She concludes that differences are at least partly explained by innate differences between the genders. I will link to the fifth page, which is a sort of conclusion. Sex and science

Another article that also gives an opposing viewpoint is at Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Head.

An important quote I think,
"You'd expect some of these differences to show up in the brain, and they do. A study of mice published a year ago in Molecular Brain Research found that just 10 days after conception, at least 50 genes were more active in the developing brain of one sex than in the other. Comparing the findings to research on humans, the Los Angeles Times observed that "the corpus callosum, which carries communications between the two brain hemispheres, is generally larger in women's brains [than in men's]. Female brains also tend to be more symmetrical. … Men and women, on average, also possess documented differences in certain thinking tasks and in behaviors such as aggression."

Let's be clear about what this isn't. It isn't a claim about overall intelligence. Nor is it a justification for tolerating discrimination between two people of equal ability or accomplishment. Nor is it a concession that genetic handicaps can't be overcome. Nor is it a statement that girls are inferior at math and science: It doesn't dictate the limits of any individual, and it doesn't entail that men are on average better than women at math or science. It's a claim that the distribution of male scores is more spread out than the distribution of female scores—a greater percentage at both the bottom and the top. Nobody bats an eye at the overrepresentation of men in prison. But suggest that the excess might go both ways, and you're a pig."

Both the articles relate to the question about how politics should influence science. Neither of these authors insist that we shouldn't scrutinize science that shows that gender differences exist, but they agree that we should be open to the idea that innate abilities explain some of the differences. Perhaps scientists should approach these studies in the same way that the courts approach some consitutional cases. We might subject such studies to 'strict scrutiny', ie, a higher standard.