Evidence is mounting that girls are every bit as competent as boys in these areas. Evidence is mounting that girls are every bit as competent as boys in these areas.Īnd happily, the widely held belief that boys are naturally better than girls at math and science is unraveling among serious scientists. The widely held belief that boys are naturally better than girls at math and science is unraveling among serious scientists. In her book “ Brain Storm: The Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences,” she says that this narrative misunderstands the complexities of biology and the dynamic nature of brain development. Rebecca Jordan-Young, a sociomedical scientist and professor at Barnard College, also rejects the notion that there are pink and blue brains, and that the differing organization of female and male brains is the key to behavior. She concluded, in her book “ Pink Brain, Blue Brain ,” that there is “surprisingly little solid evidence of sex differences in children’s brains.” Lise Eliot, associate professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Chicago Medical School, did an exhaustive review of the scientific literature on human brains from birth to adolescence. Several major books have debunked the idea of important brain differences between the sexes.
They add, “Neuroscientists have found few sex differences in children’s brains beyond the larger volume of boys’ brains and the earlier completion of girls’ brain growth, neither of which is known to relate to learning.”
They argue that “There is no well-designed research showing that single-sex education improves students’ academic performance, but there is evidence that sex segregation increases gender stereotyping and legitimizes institutional sexism.” The paper was written by eight prominent neuroscientists, headed by professor Diane Halpern of Claremont McKenna College, past president of the American Psychological Association. Many reputable scientific authorities have weighed in on this question, including a major paper in the journal Science debunking the idea that the brains of males and females are so different that they should be educated in single-sex classrooms. We have been researching issues of gender and STEM for more than 25 years, and we can say flatly that there is no evidence that women’s biology makes them incapable of performing at the highest levels in any STEM fields.
We can say flatly that there is no evidence that women’s biology makes them incapable of performing at the highest levels in any STEM fields. For example, columnist Ross Douthat of the New York Times found his scientific arguments intriguing.īut are they? What are the real facts? We have been researching issues of gender and STEM (science, technology engineering and math) for more than 25 years. It has been argued that women’s lack of a “math gene,” their brain structures and their inherent psychological traits put most of them out of the game. That’s not surprising, since the idea that women just can’t hack it in math and science has been around for a very long time. Pichai noted that “To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK.”ĭamore argued that many men in the company agreed with his sentiments. Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote that Damore’s 3,300-word manifesto crossed the line by “advancing harmful gender stereotypes” in the workplace. James Damore, 28, questioned the company’s diversity policies and claimed that scientific data backed up his assertions. A Google engineer who was fired for posting an online claim that women’s biology makes them less able than men to work in technology jobs has charged that he is being smeared and is a victim of political correctness.
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