January 19, 2005

In 1885, a prominent Boston physician argued that women should not attend college because it adversely affects their health, a claim that prompted some of the American Association of University Women’s (AAUW) first research refuting women’s biological limitations in education and the workplace. Today, this idea is simply preposterous, one would think that anyone who would suggest otherwise is retrograde.

Unfortunately, here in 2005, the president of Harvard University recently suggested that women don’t succeed in math and science because of their genetic code. Further, he contended that those who do have success—in these and other disciplines—and have ambitions of careers in academia often do not succeed because of their unwillingness to accept the rigors of life in the Ivory Tower, not as a result of discrimination in the hiring and tenure processes.

Dr. Summers’ comments should stand as a call for a renewed campaign for gender equity. While he may not see it, but equity—for women and many others—is still clearly an issue.

This is not an attempt to stifle the debate as some have suggested. Rather, we believe that it is time to revisit the research and reality of what women continue to face in education and in the workplace.

Between 1992 and 2003, AAUW published a series of key reports detailing the gaps that girls and women contend with in their education that create unique challenges in their learning, especially in areas of math and science. And in 2004, AAUW released Tenure Denied, a chronicle of the persistent sex discrimination, unclear standards, and biased behavior that impedes women in higher education from reaching the highest ranks of the professorial ladder. In fact, of the faculty at colleges and universities offering four-year degrees, only 27 percent of those awarded tenure are women.

Many others have supported these claims. Prof. Donna Nelson’s A National Analysis of Diversity in Science and Engineering Faculties at Research Universities (2003), a 2001 report from the California State Auditor’s Office, and even Harvard’s own Senior Faculty Caucus for Gender Equity have reinforced a key idea: Discrimination, in many forms, prevails in higher education—especially against women in the sciences.

Surely the story behind these numbers is more than just an unwillingness of women to commit to the challenges of academia. Many of these highly qualified women run up against discrimination that is nearly impossible to overcome, and minimizing this reality is unacceptable and particularly disturbing from a key decision-maker in higher education like Dr. Summers.

Summers comments prove that both men and women still have much to learn when it comes to understanding women’s challenges, and AAUW, with more than 100,000 members around the US, will continue to be there at every step to promote equitable policies and fight discrimination in all its forms.