2008-08-06 Motivating students (and motivating women) to pursue science careers

2008-08-06 Pharyngula PZ Myers \PZ Myers/posts\gender inequity\US education\No Child Left Behind\Larry Summers\Peter Wood http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/08/motivating_students_and_motiva.php Motivating students (and motivating women) to pursue science careers

&ldquo;Summers was not speculating in league with neurological evidence â€” he was babbling about the anecdotal evidence from preferred toys in his children to justify patterns of discrimination against women. Women are entirely capable of doing science and math as well as men, but cultural forces and the pressure to conform to anti-science norms â€” the very level Wood is saying we need to work at to improve science participation in the first half of his essay â€” conspire to discourage women from working at the highest levels of their fields, and encourage men to discriminate against them. The title of the essay is "How we keep students out of science" [, but] maybe he should open his eyes and notice that the question of "How we keep women out of science" might very well have the same answers.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Summers was not speculating in league with neurological evidence â€” he was babbling about the anecdotal evidence from preferred toys in his children to justify patterns of discrimination against women.&rdquo;   