1 / 111

HERE WE GO AGAIN

HERE WE GO AGAIN. Caryl Rivers Professor of Journalism Boston University. Rosalind Chait Barnett, Ph.D. Community, Families & Work Program Women’s Studies Research Center Brandeis University. Bad Stories About Women That Never Die. Continuing Narratives. Girls Can’t Do Math

dagan
Download Presentation

HERE WE GO AGAIN

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. HERE WE GO AGAIN Caryl Rivers Professor of Journalism Boston University Rosalind Chait Barnett, Ph.D. Community, Families & Work Program Women’s Studies Research Center Brandeis University Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  2. Bad Stories About Women That Never Die Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  3. Continuing Narratives • Girls Can’t Do Math • Larry Summers was Right--A Victim of Feminist PC • We need much more research • Science tells us there are great gender differences in math and science v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  4. Continuing Narratives, Cont’d. • Boys hormones make them better at math. • Women can’t be geniuses. • Boys are better at spatial relations, making then “hardwired” for math. • Boys are hardwired to deal with objects and systems, girls are built for relationships. • There is no discrimination against girls. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  5. Storyline: Stab in the back • “Larry Summers & the Thought Police” • Kathleen Parker, Washington Post • September 21, 2007 Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  6. Washington POST, Cont’d. • The latest smack-down of former Harvard President Lawrence Summers should extinguish any remaining doubt that political correctness is the new McCarthyism. • Summers, you'll recall, was driven out of his university post in 2005 after he suggested at a conference that gender differences might account for an under representation by women in science, math and engineering. • Never mind that scientific evidence suggests as much. One simply doesn't say -- ever -- that men and women aren't equal in every way. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  7. Atlantic.com • “Why Feminist Careerists Neutered Larry Summers” • By:Stuart Taylor, Jr. • The hysteria about Summers furthers the career agendas of feminists who seek quotas for themselves and their friends. • Unlike most religious fundamentalists, these feminists were pursuing a careerist, self-serving agenda. This cause can put money in their pockets. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  8. SLATE • THE PSEUDO-FEMINIST SHOW TRIAL OF LARRY SUMMERS. • By: William Saletan Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  9. Slate, Cont’d. • Already Summers is being forced to apologize, in the style of a Communist show trial, for sending "an unintended signal of discouragement to talented girls and women." But the best signal to send to talented girls and boys is that science isn't about respecting sensitivities. It's about respecting facts. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  10. Weekly Standard • Summers had no good reason, none whatsoever, for apologizing. • Alas, Summers's decision to acquiesce in the denunciation and to serve up one apology after another not only legitimated but also emboldened the forces of darkness and reaction. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  11. New York Times • March 6, 2006 Monday “Academic, Heal Thyself” • By: Camille Paglia Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  12. NYT, Cont’d. • Harvard's reputation for disinterested scholarship has been severely gored by the shadowy manipulations of the self-serving cabal who forced Mr. Summers's premature resignation. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  13. Financial Times editorial • Summers launched a “long overdue debate on an issue often judged too sensitive to discuss.” Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  14. Storyline: We Need New Research • Washington Post: • By Sally Quinn: • “Why don’t female mathematicians and scientists, especially at Harvard, get together and research this issue until they have definitive answers instead of reaching for the smelling salts.” v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  15. Many other articles simply made the assumption that the issue of gender differences in math had not been studied before and that Summers was to be applauded for “launching new research.” • Nothing could be farther from the truth, there is adequate research, but journalist have not bothered to read it. • There’s plenty of evidence on the subject, dating back for many years, nearly all of it showing very small differences in cognitive abilities between the sexes. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  16. ''Here was this economist lecturing pompously this room full of the country's most accomplished scholars on women's issues in science and engineering, and he kept saying things we had refuted in the first half of the day." -- Denice D. Denton, Chancellor University of California, Santa Cruz. (An engineer) • Summers trotted out “the same old lines we’ve heard for decades—if not for centuries—and they just aren’t supported by good data.”--biologist Marlene Zuk of UC Riverside v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  17. Storyline:“Science” says there are great differences between men and women • George Will: “There is a vast and growing scientific literature on possible gender differences in cognition. Only hysterics denounce interest in these possible differences.” v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  18. Innately, women don’t have what it takes to succeed in math and science Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  19. The Real Story “The nation’s report card on math and science abilities” released in February of 2007, found that: • Girls are doing increasingly well in math. • The press virtually ignored this story. • 37 newspaper articles on the report-- not one mentioned that girls were on a par with boys on a range of math abilities, including algebra, geometry, measurement properties, data analysis and other areas. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  20. Major meta analysis of math aptitude scores from 4,000,000 students, by Wisconsin’s Janet Hyde found sex differences were tiny. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  21. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  22. Tests compared grammar school kids in the U.S., Taiwan and Japan. Japanese girls score almost twice as high as American boys. (A Japanese girl gene?) This fact is rarely reported in the American media. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  23. Definitive overview of math and cognitive abilities supposed to show substantial sex differences. Diane Halpern (Claremont McKenna) found them to be trivial. While there are slight differences, boys and girls are far more alike than different. • Elizabeth Spelke (Harvard) analyzed all the available research (American Psychologist, 2005), in tests done from birth to maturity, males and females have the same aptitude for math and science. • Spelke: Women do just as well as men on challenging university-level math courses. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  24. Spelke--five "core systems" at the foundations of mathematical reasoning. • First, a system for representing small exact numbers of objects — the difference between one, two, and three. (5 mos.) • Second, understanding numerical magnitudes — the difference between a set of about ten things and a set of about 20 things. • Third, a system of natural number concepts that children construct as they learn verbal counting. This takes place between about the ages of two and a half and four years. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  25. Fourth and Fifth are systems first seen in children when they navigate: understanding the geometry of the surrounding layout and identifying landmark objects. • There is, she notes, a biological foundation to mathematical and scientific reasoning that emerges in children before any formal instruction. These systems develop equally in males and females. • “There’s not a hint of an advantage for boys over girls in any of these five basic systems.” v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  26. Are Boys Better at Representing Numbers? Average performance High performance No. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  27. high performance Average performance Are Boys Better at Representing Objects? No. (Spelke, LaMont & Lizcano, aggregated data) Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  28. The Development of Counting Children typically learn to count over the years from 2 to 4. An invariant learning sequence: “one” means an object “two” means two “three” means three counting determines cardinal value. Considerable variability in the speed of progression through the sequence. Predicts success in elementary school math. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  29. 3 year old children No male advantage on average or at the highest levels. Are Boys Better at Learning to Count? Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  30. Sex Differences in the Capacity to Harness These Abilities for New Purposes? Maps Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  31. The Development of Map-Reading Children typically begin to understand map tasks at about 4 years. Considerable variability in map reading at all ages. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  32. 4 year old children No. Are Boys Better at Map Reading? Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  33. Storyline: Hormones Male hormones that kick in at puberty give boys a big edge in math. • Michael Gurian, The Wonder of Boys • Steven Rhoads, Taking Sex Differences Seriously • Anne Moir and David Jessel,Brain Sex v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  34. Louann Brizendine, MD.,The Female Brain “When boys and girls enter their teens, their math and science abilities are equal.” “But as estrogen floods the female brain, females start to focus intensely on their emotions and on communication.” “Girls start to lose interest in pursuits that require more solitary work and fewer interactions with others.” v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  35. The Real Story • If true, we’d see boys’ scores at this age soaring ahead of girls. • But in 2001, sociologists Erin Leahey and Guang Guo at the University of North Carolina looked at 20,000 math scores of kids age 4 to 18 and found no differences of any magnitude, even in areas that are supposedly male domains, such as reasoning skills and geometry. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  36. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  37. IES National Center for Education Statistics. (2007). The nation's report card: 12th-grade reading and mathematics 2005. Retrieved. from http://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_grade12_2005/. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  38. Storyline: Genius is a “guy” thing • Daily Mail (London)September 25, 2007 “Only men can be geniuses” Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  39. Daily Mail, Cont’d. • The stubborn facts of history remain. Very few truly original scientific discoveries have been made by women. • There are no women geniuses in physics or mathematics to rival Newton or Einstein. • there is no symphonic music by women to match the sublime works of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms or Shostakovich. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  40. Daily Mail, Cont’d. • On average, women are much more competent and much cleverer in that generalist “middle ground” where ordinary exam results are required, or ordinary jobs need to be done. • Or, “The Mediocity of Women Hypothesis” Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  41. Does the overrepresentation of males at the upper tail of the distribution of math aptitude scores explain why there are more men in leadership positions in science and math? • Are women destined for mediocrity? v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  42. The Real Story • 2006 review of major studies, funded by the National Academy of Sciences: no relationship between scoring in the upper tail of ability and eventual success in math/science careers. • Of the college-educated professional workforce in math, science, and engineering, fewer than one-third of the men had SAT-M scores above 650, the lower end of the threshold typically presumed to be required for success in these fields. • Clearly, not all these guys are Einsteins. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  43. Benbow, Stanley and Lubinski followed mathematically talented boys and girls over time. Results: • Equal numbers of girls and boys majored in math. And they got equal grades. • The SAT-M not only under-predicts the performance of college women in general, it also under-predicted the college performance of women in the talented sample. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  44. Superiority in Space? • Males generally score higher on tests of involving objects in space. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  45. Charlotte Allen, op ed, Washington Post, March 08 • “Visuospatial skills, the capacity to rotate three-dimensional objects in the mind, at which men tend to excel over women, are in turn related to a capacity for abstract thinking and reasoning, the grounding for mathematics, science and philosophy.” • A few females can be fighter pilots, architects, tax accountants, chemical engineers, supreme court justices and brain surgeons, but over the long run not many will succeed. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  46. Superiority in Space, Cont’d. • Not a hardwired difference • Study: Regular video game players had spatial ability far superior to that of non-gamers. • Both men and women can improve their spatial skills by playing a video game; women catch up to men. • Women’s success rate leapt from 55 percent to 72 percent and abilities remained over time. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  47. Storyline: Boys are hardwired for systems and objects; girls, for relationships Men and boys do better at math, science, and are natural leaders because of their “wiring,” while girls and women do best at relationships, especially in low-level jobs that do not require leadership. BBC documentary, NY Times op ed, Washington Post, Newsweek Cover. v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  48. “Girls prefer dolls (to blocks and toys) because girls pay more attention to people while boys are more enthralled with mechanical objects.”--Parents' Magazine, June 2007 • Newborn boys were more interested in looking at a physical object than a face, whereas newborn girls were more interested in looking at a face than a physical object.--Steven Pinker, Harvard v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  49. [there are] biological reasons that girls gravitate to dolls and boys gravitate to trucks-- WeekendAustralian, 2006. • Girls prefer dolls (to blocks and balls) ...because girls pay more attention to people while boys are more enthralled with mechanical objects-- Parents’ Magazine, 2006. Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

  50. Christina Hoff Sommers, The American, March 2008 • Men like rigorous, systematic, challenging work • Women prefer “empathy-centered fields such as early-childhood education, social work, veterinary medicine, and psychology.” • “Veterinary medicine would be a dream job for the scientifically gifted but empathy-driven female.” • (And those puppies are just so cute.) v Women, Action & the Media: A Conference for Journalists, Activists & Everyone WAM!2008 March 28-30, 2008

More Related