Burning at the Stake

Well, over on Slate today, there's a great article about the gender gap in Science and Engineering professions, and statements made by Larry Summers, president of Harvard, in a conference about it.

While the feminists are in a tizzy over something they perceived as a slight, it makes me wonder why people don't LISTEN anymore, and am amazed at how adept our society has become at taking things out of context evidently for the sake of creating conflict.

Now, the point that's running around in my head is that I while I 100% agree with the concept of equality for all, and more importantly, equal opportunity for all, does it seem to anyone else that we never question context?

I mean, in context of the topic here, I'd like to see a study asking men how many of them believe having children is important to them.

I'd like to see a study asking men how important communication and home life is to them.

I'd like to see a study asking men how important their careers are to them, and then

I'd like to see women's responses to all of those questions.

How do you think the answers to to these questions shape how important achievement is to men vs. how important it is to women and I think it'll be clear that equality doesn't mean 50/50. Equality doesn't mean balance, it means fairness.

It doesn't mean that the things that are more important to women are of any less value than the things that are important to men.

Unfortunately, as men, we're taught a couple of very basic things growing up.
1. The guy who brings home the most mastadon meat, gets the cutest girl
2. If you don't bring home the mastadon meat, you're a loser

This is not the same lesson that women get growing up (for the most part), and so of course there's a difference of what men and women want out of life, and therefore where their focus lies - whether it's on achievement, or family, or attempting a balance of both... men DO have an advantage - as does ANYONE whose programming is to achieve in terms of career.

I don't know - I'm probably going to get uber-flamed for this post.

I do believe that women, men, and every person on this planet DOES deserve the same ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITY... and we are a very, very long way away from that still.