In Print and On the Air
CHERRILL SPENCER, a physicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, added her name to a list of 100 academics and scientists who circulated a letter protesting Harvard President Lawrence Summers' recent suggestion that biological differences between the sexes may explain why so few women are top scientists and engineers. The letter, drafted by CAROL MULLER, a consulting associate professor of mechanical engineering and head of MentorNet, a network supporting women scientists and engineers, said that Summers' remarks on Jan. 14 created a "teachable moment" for greater public awareness of the need to advance women in science. "Considerable research and experience refute the notion that the status quo for women in science is natural, inevitable and unrelated to social factors," the letter stated. "Research also shows that expectations heavily influence learning and performance. If society and individuals anticipate that women will not perform as well as men, there is a good chance that those expectations will be met." The New York Times published part of the letter Jan. 21, as well as a comment from MARGARET KOSAL, a fellow at the Stanford Institute for International Studies, who suggested that if Summers wanted to be intentionally provocative, "he could have called for mandatory 50 percent female full professorship in every discipline at Harvard in 10 years." On Jan. 24, Spencer told the Palm Beach Post: "There's no strong evidence for innate ability being the reason for why there are fewer women in science and engineering. When somebody harps back to this, or when that's the implication, then we do get a bit annoyed." She continued: "International comparisons show the USA test scores being below the average of 41 countries' test scores. So are USA-ans genetically less good at math than the citizens of 20 other countries? By President Summers' reasoning they are." Spencer disputes Summers' hypotheses, but she wasn't offended by them. "It gets the topic into the newspapers," she said. "I don't see anything wrong with getting it into the newspapers—as long as people read to the end."
Meanwhile, USA Today reported Jan. 20 that studies show that until about 10th grade, girls tend to score higher in math and science, but that begins to change toward the end of high school. Twenty years ago researchers discovered that boys outnumbered girls 5 to 1 among U.S. high school students with the top 5 percent of math and science scores—a ratio that has held fairly steady ever since. "There's never been even a good hypothesis as to what biological [factor] could contribute to a difference such as that," said education Professor WILLIAM DAMON, director of the Center on Adolescence. "When nothing plausible is found, you begin to be suspicious that maybe there's nothing there."