Women in Science and Technology
All this current discussion motivated by Harvard University President Lawrence Summers' remarks (claiming that there are "innate differences" between men and women and that these differences partly account for the disparity in the numbers of professional men vs. women in scientific fields) is a very, very good thing! I'm glad it's being discussed openly and publicly. Of course, it's extremely frustrating that such an educated men should say such words (the "innate differences" argument has been repeatedly refuted by numerous research) even if in the context of scholarly debate. I'm just glad that we're talking about this. I'm glad that people are saying to the rest of the world: "you know what -- it's absolutely true, women in science & technology fields (universities, corporate, government) generally suffer much more hostility and discrimination; mothers generally suffer much more difficult choices and negative professional consequences than fathers do..." and so on. Some of this also applies to other under-represented groups besides women. How can we live with the knowledge that so much potential (in fact, research indicates a figure from 50% to 66%) is being untapped, ignored, even discouraged?! One of the projects I'm currently involved with (at the Annenberg IML) incorporates the use of computer graphics to realize LA high school students' literary visions; out of a group of 15 students, only two are girls. When I asked why this was so, I was informed that a boy in the group (I believe this boy is no longer participating) terrorized the girls and thus only two "survived". As if these girls don't have enough disadvantages in their lives already. Since these numbers are certainly reflected in our very own IMD, I was hoping to instigate some thought on the matter.