At CNN.Com today in, “Summers Talk of Legacy, Need for change at Harvard… Lawrence Summers is stepping down Friday,” the Associated Press asked him to discuss his statements about women being less 
able than men… Do you agree with what he said….
AP: You have apologized for your controversial remarks that innate ability may partly explain why fewer women reach top-level science jobs, but you also said any idea should be on the table as a university. How do you reconcile that?
Summers: As president I bear responsibility for the signal that my remarks send, and the signal that was sent by those remarks was anything but what I intended or what I believe. And so I have taken responsibility for that. At the same time, no subject should be off limits for academic research in a university, and at a time when 30 percent more women are graduating from college than men, I think we ignore the whole topic of gender differences in learning styles very much at our peril.
In the meantime while that research is being done I think the right agenda is pretty clear: it's to turn heat into light. ... We've done that with a variety of changes in our parental leave policies, or changes in the ways in which we provide research support and mentoring, and I think that's something quite constructive that has come out of the furor.
My question is … Will Summer’s Comment Spark a New Dialogue about Gender Differences?
The gender controversy raised by Harvard’s President, Lawrence Summers, could become the catalyst that sparks conversation about men and women’s brains. What would it take to raise the issue to a conversation about men and women’s strengths?
Think of how we could improve communication if we considered a few facts, Summers alluded to and a few he left out. Recent research, for instance, shows males as more math proficient, spatially able and aggressive, while female brains tend to include natural language, emotion and nurture capabilities, for instance. Brains differ biologically and that can lead to strengths on both sides! The error Dr. Summers made was in labeling men as smarter. If men alone set criteria for a test or a college entrance exam, they exclude women’s strengths.
Similarly, topics in math come out different when men alone set criteria, in the same way that technology or science find new depths and add vibrant colors to screens when women also lead. It’s time to pool strengths, value differences and welcome diverse approaches.
Labels lead to negative outcomes, whereas diverse roundtables could make better use of our strengths. Think of it! We know, for instance, that some men are more nurturing than women and some women surpass men’s math scores, and we also know that the corpus callosum or thick connector brain cells concentrates on one side in males and the other in females. Brain facts can add success for both genders, if we value differences across genders.
The way past blame or cover-up is to spark new action plans that include positive differences among men and women’s proclivities. We know that brains are wired more uniquely different than once thought, but we know less about how that benefits men and women. If men alone set the stage, fewer women enjoy the dance. On the other hand when both men and women set a wider stage both genders find new opportunities.
We know that while not all guys do thing one way or women another, nor are all women bad at math and science. We also know there are key physiological cognitive differences in the brain that tend to show up in the way they solve academic problems. Rather than fight let’s learn from differences that can work in our favor.
Let’s collaborate more across genders and set up action plans which value differences for mutual gains. It really quite easy, if you think of it. Start with diverse approaches to solve problems, for instance, and we’d move away from one-size-only fits. We’d include both sexes in discussions instantly, and could then begin to gather deeper ideas from both females and males.
How many meetings have you attended where males show females how they’ll benefit from women’s work, and visa versa. Why fight when facts support women and men’s smarts equally?
Current brain facts tell us, for instance, that cell connectors tend to crisscross both sides of women’s brains in ways that help them to integrate ideas and include relationships, while men’s corpus callossum wires in a way to focus them deeply on one task at a time. Let’s talk about these differences in ways that can help more productivity for men and women in college and at work also.
It’s true that all brains differ and are constantly changing, but we now know more. For more than 30 years, I have interviewed folks across genders, cultures, and careers, in order to understand how women and men use their brains differently as they write to improve respect for both genders.
The
Comment Preview