On Women in the Sciences

On January 14, 2005, the president of Harvard University, Lawrence Summers, suggested that the reason women have not succeeded in the math and sciences is due to an innate difference between men and women. Men are naturally (biologically) more adapted to be better in math and science. These remarks, made at a meeting on women in science, have since received much publicity and a flurry of criticism. Summers has issued an apology.

In the aftermath, there seem to be several different opinions one could have about this. First, that he is totally correct: due to the fact that women have babies and evolution happens, women have just evolved differently. They are actually genetically not as well evolved for math and sciences, like they are not physically evolved (as a whole) for lifting with their arms. A second opinion is that yes, men and women are different but the difference in science and math is due to how we develop. Girls develop language earlier and boys play with their blocks. Joan Ryan from the San Francisco Gate suggests that due to these early developments, by the time the other group develops their skills they have already been socialized to think they are not capable in that area. There is also a third opinion that suggests that Summers was completely wrong and has done women in science a huge injustice by making these comments. Women will now worry that they have to prove themselves in the labs.

So what does this mean? Does it mean that I should drop my chemistry major and start a major that doesn't require so much math or visual/spatial skills? Do I ignore what the president of Harvard said? Or should I realize that this may be a reason why I have had one female chemistry professor out of my five chemistry teachers since high school?

I think this is why women's history is so valuable. It provides us with a context for society today. We can understand how society has developed and look at the trends in how women obtained their positions in the sciences. We can use the history alongside the developmental behavior studies to determine if there is a glass ceiling for women in science as the Daily News-Record recently suggested. We can learn how to evaluate comments that at face value may seem ignorant. We learn to question, ask why, and look for answers.

I won't let what Summers said get to me. I will continue to be a proud woman in the sciences. He doesn't have control over my ability to succeed.

Email: stephanie.miller@emu.edu