Well, as far as engineering ability (or the inate part thereof) being sex-linked: there are other sex linked traits that are not universal. Take strength, or attraction females, or ability with spatial relations. All are generally more developed in males, although there are certainly individual exceptions.
And as far as "what can you do:" I think he was just saying that if you do everything you can possibly do to encourage women to go into the sciences if they are so inclined, and you _still_ have a discrepancy, then it's time to start thinking that maybe no matter what you do, it just won't work. If you can't change people in that way, then you might as well say that the particular trait is innate. We're nowhere near that point yet, but if you look fifty years down the line, and men still get more tenured positions, then it might not reflect bias; it might reflect "innate abilites."
I think he can get away with the sexism because people know he's not a sexist. In our society, raceism is more of a problem than sexism, especially since to fix the gender imbalance, a male physicist can encouage his daugher to follow in his footsteps. But if there are not black physicists, there's not footstep-following to be done. Women are a part of every social class, so they can break into the club more easily. Besides, if you want to get all genetic, races can mix, which means that even if one race were better at quantum chemisty than another, it wouldn't generally stay that way. Genders don't much mix.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
zvi and
Re: um....
Date: 2005-02-21 06:08 pm (UTC)And as far as "what can you do:" I think he was just saying that if you do everything you can possibly do to encourage women to go into the sciences if they are so inclined, and you _still_ have a discrepancy, then it's time to start thinking that maybe no matter what you do, it just won't work. If you can't change people in that way, then you might as well say that the particular trait is innate. We're nowhere near that point yet, but if you look fifty years down the line, and men still get more tenured positions, then it might not reflect bias; it might reflect "innate abilites."
I think he can get away with the sexism because people know he's not a sexist. In our society, raceism is more of a problem than sexism, especially since to fix the gender imbalance, a male physicist can encouage his daugher to follow in his footsteps. But if there are not black physicists, there's not footstep-following to be done. Women are a part of every social class, so they can break into the club more easily. Besides, if you want to get all genetic, races can mix, which means that even if one race were better at quantum chemisty than another, it wouldn't generally stay that way. Genders don't much mix.