inkbluesky

Men, Women, and the Real Gender Gap

To support this, Pinker quotes a female Ivy League law professor: “I am very skeptical of the notion that society discourages talented women from becoming scientists,” the professor writes. “My experience, at least from the educational phase of my life, is that the very opposite is true.” If women aren’t racing to the upper echelons of science, government and the corporate world despite decades of efforts to woo them, Pinker argues, then it must be because they are wired to resist the demands at the top of those fields.

Thus, Pinker parks herself firmly among “difference” feminists. Women’s brains aren’t inferior, she argues, but they vary considerably from men’s, and this is the primary explanation for the workplace gender divide. Women care more about intrinsic rewards, they have broader interests, they are more service-oriented and they are better at gauging the effect they have on others. They are “wired for empathy.” These aren’t learned traits; they’re the result of genes and hormones.

Maybe Pinker is short shifting discrimination and other factors in explaining why women are not as materially successful as men, I’ll leave that for others to sort out. “Difference” feminism does address an issue that sounds almost zen-like, like something out of the Tao Te Ching or even Hegel - the cultural difficulties we have in dealing with different, but equal.

mixed paint 

Kool. One day you might be able to paint on some power,

Swansea scientists are developing a special paint which can produce electricity.The process involves painting solar cells on the steel cladding of buildings.