哈佛校長沙豬論點 理工領域 女不如男 與生俱來

轉貼3篇文章, 日期由最近到最早(reverse chronological order). 我不想做人身攻擊, 可是我想說, 科研的人都是社會白痴. 社會學家老早就有理論, 解釋男女因從小socialization process的不同, 被導向做某種"適合"的職業. 而且這幾年也有社會趨向(trend)指出, 女性受高等教育的比例比男性高. 有很多女性也再科學跟工程領域大放異彩. 不可否認的, 女性在科學界,尤以工程界, 受到很多歧視, 尤其是不平等待遇. 舉個例子, 我是加大柏克萊土木工程(結構工程)系的碩士班學生, 去年夏天回台灣捷運工地實習, 從日本引進的工程師拒絕讓我進隧道查看, 原因沒什麼, 只因為我是女性. 他們認為女性進入堀進中的隧道會帶來厄運. 其實這只是千萬中個案例的其中一個, 女性科學家跟工程師在職場受到的不平等待遇可想而知. 我不是女性主義支持者, 可是我也反對既得勢的男性, 以這種冠冕堂皇的理由, 為自己不公平的行為做開拖. 社會上的Gender Stereotyping 對眾多女性再選擇科系跟工作時, 造成很大的影響. 而在人小時後的受的socialization, 更會間接的影響小孩的偏好, 男孩子玩娃娃會被罵, 女孩子玩機器人也會被取笑. 更可悲的, 職場上的女強人, 承受的批評大於鼓勵, 而且部分的批評還是來自女性同胞. 大家要想的問題是: 要如何打破這面invisible glass ceiling, 而不是一而再再而三用歪曲的理論來把社會問題合理化.

Ellen Yeh
01/20/2005


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科研：男女智力平等　但表現領域不同

哈佛大學校長日前一席男生在數理表現上優於女生的談話，捅翻了「女男平等」的馬蜂窩，最後趕緊道歉以求平息風波。不過依據美國加州大學歐文分校研究人員的研究結論，哈佛校長的談話在某方面可能真的有科學依據。

加大研究人員發現：決定男性智力的主要是大腦灰質，而決定女性智力的主要是大腦白質。灰白質在男女兩性大腦中的數量差異懸殊，但男女平均智力水平是一樣的。

科學家在神經醫學雜誌上發表論文說，男性大腦中決定智力的灰質總量是女性大腦的６．５倍，而女性大腦中決定智力的白質總量則是男性的１０倍。一般來說，灰質好比是大腦中的一個個資訊處理單元，而白質是聯係這些資訊處理單元的網路 。

這可以解釋，為什麼男性更容易在集中處理資訊的領域（如數理方面）取得成就，而女性更適合“分佈式”處理資訊的領域，比如語言能力等。研究人員表示，其實 在他們的觀察下，接受測驗的男女兩性表現出的平均智力水平是一樣的，這說明兩性的智力是“殊途同歸”，不同的大腦“設計思路”可以達到同樣的智力水平，不 過男女在不同領域中的表現差異，可能真的存在，不容人隨便以「女男平等」的大帽子加以鎮壓否定。


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Letter from President Summers on women and science
January 19, 2005

http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/2005/womensci.html

Dear Members of the Harvard Community:

Last Friday I spoke at a conference on women and science, hosted by the National Bureau of Economics. I attended the conference with the intention of reinforcing my strong commitment to the advancement of women in science, and offering some informal observations on possibly fruitful avenues for further research. Ensuing media reports on my remarks appear to have had quite the opposite effect. I deeply regret the impact of my comments and apologize for not having weighed them more carefully.

Despite reports to the contrary, I did not say, and I do not believe, that girls are intellectually less able than boys, or that women lack the ability to succeed at the highest levels of science. As the careers of a great many distinguished women scientists make plain, the human potential to excel in science is not somehow the province of one gender or another. It is a capacity shared by girls and boys, by women and men, and we must do all we can to nurture, develop, and recognize it, along with other vital talents. That includes carefully avoiding stereotypes, being alert to forms of subtle discrimination, and doing everything we can to remove obstacles to success.

I have learned a great deal from all that I have heard in the last few days. The many compelling e-mails and calls that I have received have made vivid the very real barriers faced by women in pursuing scientific and other academic careers. They have also powerfully underscored the imperative of providing strong and unequivocal encouragement to girls and young women interested in science.

I was wrong to have spoken in a way that has resulted in an unintended signal of discouragement to talented girls and women. As a university president, I consider nothing more important than helping to create an environment, at Harvard and beyond, in which every one of us can pursue our intellectual passions and realize our aspirations to the fullest possible extent. We will fulfill our promise as an academic community only if we draw as broadly and deeply as we can on the talents of outstanding women as well as men, among both our students and our faculty.

While in recent years there have been some strides forward in attracting more women into the front ranks of science, the progress overall has been frustratingly uneven and slow. Spurring greater progress is a critical challenge. As members of a university, we should do all we can to recognize and reduce barriers to the advancement of women in science. And, as academics who believe in the power of research, we should invest our energies in thinking as clearly and objectively as possible, drawing on potential insights from different disciplines, to identify and understand all the various factors that might possibly bear on the situation. The better our understanding, the better the prospects for long-term success.

I am strongly committed to Harvard's success in attracting both students and faculty who are outstanding and diverse along many dimensions. We have recently committed up to $25 million in new funds to avoid budget constraints on the appointment of outstanding scholars from underrepresented groups, including women and minorities. Last year we completed a comprehensive report of our appointments process in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and we continue to assess and implement measures at a variety of levels to improve our effectiveness in this area. And we are actively exploring ways to enhance flexibility and support for faculty trying to balance career and family, through such measures as enhanced leave, parental teaching relief, delayed tenure clocks, and better childcare options. These and other steps should all be part of a broad-based and sustained effort to achieve a vital goal we all share: assuring that Harvard plays a leadership role in accelerating the advancement of women in science and throughout academic life.

Sincerely,

Lawrence H. Summers


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2005.01.19　 中國時報
哈佛校長沙豬論點 理工領域 女不如男 與生俱來
閻紀宇/綜合報導

作風直率強悍的美國哈佛大學校長桑默斯，最近又在美國學術界掀起波瀾，飽受抨擊。桑默斯十四日在一場學術會議的餐會中指出，女性在科學與工程學領域的成就 不如男性，真正原因可能是兩性之間與生俱來的生物差異，與性別歧視之類的社會因素關聯較小。

這場會議旨在探討女性與少數族裔在科學與工程學領域的表現，由一個非營利學術機構「國家經濟研究局」主辦，於哈佛大學所在地的麻州劍橋舉行。桑默斯以頂尖 經濟學家的身分與會，並應邀在一場午餐會中發表即席演講，主辦單位希望他能激發與會學者的討論動機。