Document Type
Symposium
Publication Title
Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice
Publication Date
2005
Volume
11
First Page
583
Abstract
(Excerpt)
Remarks made by Lawrence H. Summers, the President of Harvard University, suggesting by his "best guess" that "intrinsic aptitude" primarily accounts for the paucity of women holding senior academic positions in math, physics, engineering, and technology' have touched off a new round in a timeless debate over gender sameness and difference. This seeming bow to biology, emanating from the head of the nation's most prestigious academic institution, conjures up memories of yet another Harvard figure almost a century and a half ago. At that time, Dr. Edward Clarke, a member of Harvard's Board of Overseers and a former member of the Harvard medical faculty, warned with great certitude that secondary and higher education would harm women's reproductive abilities. While President Summers undeniably would agree that history has proven Dr. Clarke wrong, his troubling comments merely echo conclusions drawn from now popularized studies in neuro-psychology suggesting that women and men are simply hard-wired differently.
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