Gender and Learning: Are there differences between the sexes?

CQ Researcher
May 20, 2005

Comments made by Harvard President Lawrence Summers have once again brought to the table one of academia’s most controversial questions: Why are there so few women in science and engineering positions? Although some studies have shown differences between male and female brains, it is unlikely that gender differences in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) success can be attributed to biological difference. In fact, the gender gap is closing—girls now earn better grades in math and science than boys, constitute more than half of the biology majors, constitute nearly half of the math majors, and half of medical school enrollees are female. The dramatic rate at which the gender gap was closed in these areas suggests that the original deficiency was the result of socialization. “If there had been some math gene, things wouldn’t have changed quite as fast,” says Susan McGee Bailey, executive director of the Wellesley Centers for Women and principle author of the AAUW Report, How Schools Shortchange Girls.  Read more

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