Does gender matter?

3 min read Original article ↗
  • Commentary
  • Published:

Nature volume 442pages 133–136 (2006)Cite this article

The suggestion that women are not advancing in science because of innate inability is being taken seriously by some high-profile academics. Ben A. Barres explains what is wrong with the hypothesis.

References

  1. Summers, L. Letter to the Faculty Regarding NBER Remarks http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/summers/2005/facletter.html (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  2. The Science of Gender and Science. Pinker vs. Spelke: A Debate http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/debate05/debate05_index.html (2005).

  3. Lawrence, P. A. PLoS Biol. 4, 13–15 (2006).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Baron-Cohen, S. The Essential Difference: Men, Women, and the Extreme Male Brain (Allen Lane, London, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Mansfield, H. Manliness (Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Gould, S. J. The Mismeasure of Man (W. W. Norton & Co, New York, 1996).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Steele, C. M. Am. Psychol. 52, 613–629 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Spelke, E. S. Am. Psychol. 60, 950–958 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Leahey, E. & Guo, G. Soc. Forces 80.2, 713–732 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Xie, Y. & Shauman, K. Women in Science: Career Processes and Outcomes (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Valian, V. Why So Slow? (MIT Press, Cambridge, 1998).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Wennerås, C. & Wold, A. Nature 387, 341–343 (1997).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Rhode, D. L. Speaking of Sex: The Denial of Gender Inequality (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Carnes, M. et al. J. Womens Health 14, 684–691 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Gneezy, U., Niederle, M. & Rustichini, A. Q. J. Econ. 18, 1049–1074 (2003).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Fels, A. Necessary Dreams (Pantheon Press, New York, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Pinker, S. New Repub. 15 (14 Feb, 2005).

  18. Moody, J. Faculty Diversity: Problems and Solutions (Taylor and Francis, New York, 2004).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  19. Petsko, G. A. Genome Biol. 6, 1–3 (2005).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School ofMedicine, 299 Campus Drive, Fairchild Building Room D235, Stanford, 94305-5125, CA, USA

    Ben A. Barres

About this article

Cite this article

Barres, B. Does gender matter?. Nature 442, 133–136 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/442133a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/442133a

This article is cited by

Comments

Commenting on this article is now closed.

  1. phluisma

    https://goo.gl/1N6dqM
    or this https://youtu.be/2sblNk2aPzE and https://youtu.be/Me3okdm0C1M

  2. Scott Voolker

    I was looking forward to reading a well-argued essay that outlines the available evidence that women are just as talented when it comes to the sciences as men. Instead, we got an article that presents virtually no evidence, takes a bizarre turn into attacking freedom of speech itself, and finally finishes with standard boilerplate feminist talking points.