Comment Re:No of phsics majors. (Score 1) 1746
As a female physics student a few months away from a Ph.D. I would have to disagree. Simply because more men major in physics does not mean that they are better at it on average (I might suggest a class in logic). I would agree with the parent poster that social factors are probably much more important in keeping women away from science research.
Your assertion that women struggle more in math and science is, in my experience, due to their exclusion from the male-dominated student culture in those fields. A woman has to get past that before she can figure out that science is actually fun and rewarding. While this is not active discouragement, it does take some/all of the fun out of science classes.
Studies about innate differences between men and women are very hard to do because of the pervasive social differences between the sexes; to call the difference "obvious" is very unscientific. I would also question whether money spent doing these studies is well spent. Regardless of the average woman or man there are clearly individual women and men who are good at science and these people should be encouraged to pursue these careers.
Your assertion that women struggle more in math and science is, in my experience, due to their exclusion from the male-dominated student culture in those fields. A woman has to get past that before she can figure out that science is actually fun and rewarding. While this is not active discouragement, it does take some/all of the fun out of science classes.
Studies about innate differences between men and women are very hard to do because of the pervasive social differences between the sexes; to call the difference "obvious" is very unscientific. I would also question whether money spent doing these studies is well spent. Regardless of the average woman or man there are clearly individual women and men who are good at science and these people should be encouraged to pursue these careers.
