Just the Facts, Sir.
AAUW Responds to Harvard President’s Comments on
Women’s Achievement and Discrimination in Higher Ed
Washington, D.C. – The American Association of University Women (AAUW), representing more than 100,000 college graduates, calls on Harvard University president Lawrence H. Summers to re-examine the evidence on women’s achievement in math and science as well as the real and often discrimination-based challenges female faculty face in gaining tenure.
“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 AAUW’s first research refuting women’s biological limitations in education and the workplace. Now, in 2005, Harvard’s president is suggesting that women don’t succeed in math and science because of their genetic code,” said AAUW president Nancy Rustad. “This is a call for a renewed campaign for gender equity. Dr. Summers may not see it, but equity – for women and many others – is still clearly an issue.”
“We’re not trying to stifle the debate. In fact, we welcome this much-needed discussion,” Rustad commented. “But we would also like Dr. Summers to take a close look at existing inequities, some of which occur in his own university. Women continue to face major challenges when stereotypes like these prevail.”
As a leader in gender equity research, the AAUW Educational Foundation has published key reports on the challenges that women and girls face during the course of their education, particularly in the areas of math and science. Some highlights include
- 1992: AAUW’s groundbreaking report How Schools Shortchange Girls investigates the detrimental effects of gender stereotypes in education, particularly in math and science
- 1998: Gender Gaps – Where Schools Still Fail Our Children reports that both boys and girls continue to lag behind in science, math, and technology education and suggests ways to remedy the problem
- 2000: Tech Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age documents girls’ perspectives on today’s computer culture and explores how school curricula and classroom practices discourage girls participation in computer science and technology education
- 2003: Women at Work, a report chronicling women’s status in the workforce, examines the persistent problem of occupational segregation and the small number of women entering high-tech industries.
Dr. Summers’s comments also focused on the lack of women in faculty positions in math, science, and technology fields. He argued that it is women’s lack of willingness to endure long hours and difficult schedules that keeps them out of key positions in colleges and universities. He also minimized claims that discrimination is widespread for women and argued that if a pool of qualified female professors were available, economic law would dictate that they’d be hired.
“Unfortunately, Dr. Summers was also misleading in this matter. Prof. Donna Nelson’s A National Analysis of Diversity in Science and Engineering Faculties at Research Universities (2003) , Harvard’s own Senior Faculty Caucus for Gender Equity, the California State Auditor’s Office, and AAUW’s 2004 Tenure Denied report reinforce a key idea: Discrimination, in many forms, prevails in higher ed, especially against women in the sciences. Many do not reach tenured positions because they have been systematically shut out of the system,” said Mary Ellen Smyth, president of the AAUW Educational Foundation.
Tenure Denied: Cases of Sex Discrimination in Academia found that of the faculty at colleges and universities offering four-year degrees, only 27 percent of those awarded tenure are women. A lack of transparency, unclear standards, and biased behavior and decision-making in the tenure process contribute to this problem.
“Surely the story behind these numbers is more than just an unwillingness of women to commit to the rigors of academia,” commented Smyth. “Many of these highly qualified women run up against discrimination that is nearly impossible to overcome, and minimizing this reality is unacceptable.”
“Summers’s comments prove that both men and women still have much to learn when it comes to understanding women’s challenges, and AAUW will continue to be there at every step to promote equitable policies,” said Smyth.
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The American Association of University Women, with its nationwide network of
more than 100,000 bipartisan members and 1,300 branches, has been a leading
advocate for equity for women and girls since 1881. Please visit our web site
at www.aauw.org for more information.
AAUW: Because Equity is Still An Issue
