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"I'd rather be smart than be a movie star"
by
..says actress Natalie Portman!
Over at The Intersection, I've been exploring the gender disparity detailed in the survey results from the National Science Foundation's Science and Engineering Indicators 2008
report. Female performance as described in a 2006 study by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center left me so concerned, I decided to spend
this week examining the data with readers...
Correct answers to scientific literacy questions, by sex: 2006
(by percent)
Lasers work by focusing sound waves. (False)
Male 62
Female 32
Human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals. (True)
Male 47
Female 40
A doctor tells a couple that their genetic makeup means that they've got one in four chances of having a child with an inherited illness. Does this mean that if their first child has the illness, the next three will not? (No)
Male 90
Female 84
While I've pondered the numbers of women in the sciences here before, these figures reflect more broadly the troubling degree of science illiteracy in the United States. Given the additional gender discrepancy that leaves me perplexed, what's going on?
Tags: gender, nsf, science literacy
4 Comments
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April 16, 2008 9:45 AM
razib
Lasers work by focusing sound waves.
anyone who reads science fiction, watches scifi movies, etc. would know this without understanding anything really about a laser. i think you're seeing knowledge of guns here mostly, not science (old school word for laser = ray gun).
April 16, 2008 12:11 PM
agnostic
Yeah, but guys are socially retarded -- can't tell when girls are interested vs. not interested in them, for one thing. If you dig into the Emotional Intelligence lit, I'm sure you'll find non-trivial sex disparities in correctly identifying emotions from facial expressions.
A large part of a modern economy is accurately identifying a person's emotional state and using that info to your (personal or corporate) advantage -- sales, PR, advertising, etc.
I say we let people end up doing jobs that they're suited to. If that means a larger percentage of males than females does mechanical engineering, while the reverse holds for PR or social work, then so be it.
I hope Natalie Portman does academic type work because she's a pretty bad actress. C'mon, someone had to say it.
April 16, 2008 2:40 PM
razib
"I hope Natalie Portman does academic type work because she's a pretty bad actress. C'mon, someone had to say it. "
oh no you didn't!!!
April 21, 2008 10:41 AM
NP
Do you have a breakdown of the stats for different age groups?
If so, I think we'd probably find that older women tend to have less scientific literacy, whereas younger women would probably show the same stats as their male counterparts. Just my guess.
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