In 2005 Lawrence Summers, then president of Harvard, was assailed for suggesting that “innate differences” between men and women may account for the lack of female professors in the hard sciences. Several attendees walked out of his speech, deeply offended. One woman, an MIT biologist, said if she hadn’t, she would have “passed out or thrown up.”

Several other women registered no offense, of course, which leads me to believe that being offended by the remarks had nothing to do with gender. According to Harvard Professor Howard Gardner, Summers ” was absolutely within the pale of normal academic discourse.” Credible studies showing stronger spatial skills among men support the possibility. Psychology professor Stephen Kosslyn felt it was important to note that Summers simply “suggested that this is one hypothesis that should be considered. By definition, a hypothesis remains to be tested.”

I agree. One of the problems is that too few people are able to see a question as a question. In most situations, especially those that are politically and emotionally charged, stating a possibility is automatically seen as arguing in favor of it. And if the possibility is unpopular, then you are in quite a lot of trouble for even stating it.

But science is advanced through questioning. And sometimes the questions we have to ask are uncomfortable. Are European Jews more intelligent than other whites? Are blacks more athletic than other races? Are men better at math and science than women?

It’s become commonplace to ignore these questions, or to ignore evidence that supports an unfavorable answer. From The Harvard Crimson:

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.

But we have to face the evidence and understand that this isn’t saying that women are inferior. Those studies show women have stronger linguistic skills; they simply say we’re different. And the sooner we acknowledge that and accept it, the sooner we’ll be able to stop wasting time fighting over whether there’s discrimination. Based on these studies we can expect more men to excel in hard sciences, and more women to excel in humanities. This should be quite fine. There will be exceptional women who make up a minority in science, and exceptional men who make up a minority in humanities. Unfortunately, acceptance seems a long way off.

The funny outcome of this story – to date, at least – is that Alicia Carriquiry, the primary data analyst on a study commissioned in 2002 by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore), thinks an “innate difference” may be an important factor:

She speculated, however, that biological clocks might be a factor for women.

“The timing is exactly wrong,” she said. “By the time they get tenure, they’re in their 40s. Women are going through their best reproductive years while they’re supposed to be working their tails off.”

Men and women are different. We’ve known it since we were 2, let’s acknowledge it, instead of turning our nose up at such an obvious suggestion.

Tags: discrimination, Education, gender, university