Recently Harvard University President Lawrence Summers spoke at an academic conference about diversifying the science and engineering workforce. The New York Times reported that he said biological differences between the sexes may be one of the reasons why women are underrepresented in science and engineering. His remarks have created a storm of protest, including your Jan. 20 editorial, which labels his comments as sexist (“Sexism persists, even at the top of academia”).
Your accusations of sexism are absurd. Dr. Summers is being castigated because he has dared to point out an important truth: men and women are different. He is a victim of political correctness run amok. I’m confident Dr. Summers would agree that both women and men should be treated as individuals and that women should be given every opportunity to succeed in science and engineering. It may be, however, that even under optimum conditions, women will never reach 50 percent of the workforce in these fields. We must be willing to face the fact that biology is an important part of our destiny.
Judy Kessinger
Mill Creek
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