I know almost nothing about math, and am limited in terms of my understanding of science, but this shitstorm is complicated for a number of reasons.
The main one is that many women and men don't want to admit that the genders tend to be wired differently. It's not an inescapable fact, but it can and is generally true. The people who avoid that fact are the same people who don't want to admit that races can and do often have differing physical abilities. These differences are features of the evolutionary process, I would think, but every time someone alludes to them the person gets eviscerated.
The real problem with math and science with regard to gender is that the disciplines have never really taken that gender difference into account, mostly because it's only been the past few decades that women were even seriously involved in them.
Again, I know nothing about math, but I know a bit about the way that people communicate, and the way that people communicate has absolutely everything to do with the way they learn.
Men are, in my experience, more logical, factual, and linear. Women are more emotive, intuitive, and circumspect. Much of the communication between women is a result of the fact that our main purpose in communicating is to build relationships and connect socially, whereas men far more often communicate to impart actual information.
The trouble is that, since men still run the world, the "male" model of communication, and of learning, is considered superior to the female.
I would guess that in math and science, the "male" model of communication and learning is the only model that even exists.
If the study of math and science were reinvisioned to play more to the strengths of women, my guess is that there would be more of a parity.
As to how math and science would accomplish that, I have no fucking clue.
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Date: 2005-10-29 07:29 pm (UTC)The main one is that many women and men don't want to admit that the genders tend to be wired differently. It's not an inescapable fact, but it can and is generally true. The people who avoid that fact are the same people who don't want to admit that races can and do often have differing physical abilities. These differences are features of the evolutionary process, I would think, but every time someone alludes to them the person gets eviscerated.
The real problem with math and science with regard to gender is that the disciplines have never really taken that gender difference into account, mostly because it's only been the past few decades that women were even seriously involved in them.
Again, I know nothing about math, but I know a bit about the way that people communicate, and the way that people communicate has absolutely everything to do with the way they learn.
Men are, in my experience, more logical, factual, and linear. Women are more emotive, intuitive, and circumspect. Much of the communication between women is a result of the fact that our main purpose in communicating is to build relationships and connect socially, whereas men far more often communicate to impart actual information.
The trouble is that, since men still run the world, the "male" model of communication, and of learning, is considered superior to the female.
I would guess that in math and science, the "male" model of communication and learning is the only model that even exists.
If the study of math and science were reinvisioned to play more to the strengths of women, my guess is that there would be more of a parity.
As to how math and science would accomplish that, I have no fucking clue.