Tuesday: Rosen, Davidson and adolescent males

Let me say up front that I am not one of those “I am the victim of the patriarchy” type of women.  My approach has always been one of confrontation and anger when someone threatens my personhood.  I don’t whine.  (Oh, brother, I can just hear the comments now.)  Maybe that’s because I think of myself as person first, female second.

But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t pervasive cultural trends and conditioning that need to be eliminated and/or reversed.  For example, this notion that somehow the thoughts that come out of the mouths of women are worth less than those that come out of the mouths of men really frosts my crockies.  You will probably not be surprised to find that there is some recent research on the subject and attitudes about the appropriateness of women taking on certain subjects is already in place by high school.  That is, in the male adolescent brain.

Consider this recent study noted in Science Daily back in February of this year noting Gender Bias Found in Student Ratings of High School Science Teachers:

A study of 18,000 biology, chemistry and physics students has uncovered notable gender bias in student ratings of high school science teachers.

Researchers at Clemson University, the University of Virginia and Harvard University have found that, on average, female high school science teachers received lower evaluations than their male counterparts even though male and female teachers are equally effective at preparing their students for college.

The findings appear in Science Education online in the research paper, “Unraveling Bias from Student Evaluations of their High School Science Teachers.”

Most notably, say the researchers, the physics students in the survey showed the largest bias toward female physics teachers. In biology and chemistry, male students tended to underrate their female teachers, but female students did not. In physics, both male and female students tended to underrate their female teachers.

“The importance of these findings is that they make it clear that students have developed a specific sense of gender-appropriate roles in the sciences by the end of high school,” said Geoffrey Potvin, assistant professor of engineering and science education and the department of mathematical sciences at Clemson.

“Such a sense of what are and what are not appropriate roles for males and females in science likely impacts the choices students make when they consider their college studies,” said Clemson researcher Zahra Hazari, also an assistant professor in engineering and science education and the department of mathematical sciences. “Such a bias could negatively impact female students and contribute to the loss of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”

Put aside the fact that there aren’t any jobs in these areas in America anymore, I think we can begin to understand why Larry Summers thinks that women can’t cut it in science and math.  What is striking about the study is that both male and female teachers were equally able to prepare their students for college level courses.  The outcome was identical but the female teacher didn’t get the same credit for her work.

Now, some commenters have complained in the past that we bash men unfairly.  This isn’t true.  There are some feminist bloggers who will go out of their way to accuse all men of being latent rapists and Taliban wannabees.  We tend to stay away from that kind of blanket condemnation because it simply isn’t true.  However, if some of our male readers out there feel put upon that their behavior is being called to task for being insufficiently respectful of opinions that emanate from the mouths and keyboards of women, then I can only say one thing: stop doing it.  Women don’t share the belief that they are not as smart as men, that their opinions aren’t as valuable or that their passions and research are “pet issues”.  We all grow up in the same families and schools so whatever the genesis of these differences that exist in the minds of men are subtle and profoundly irritating to those of us who have to put up with them. We have to read the ridiculous bitchy sniping of Sonia Sotomayor from the keyboard of Jeffrey Rosen and listen to the textbook case of gender bias from Adam Davidson and we get angry.

Yesterday’s Planet Money reviewed the angry responses from listeners to Adam’s attack on Elizabeth Warren’s credibility.  I have to applaud her for not decking him.  She sounded feisty and offended, as well she should.  But somehow, Adam’s mea culpas do not yet sound sincere.  He apologizes in a pro forma way without real understanding of how his attitude towards her greater authority is less than it should be.  He undermines his own credibility in the process.   And without true understanding, it is going to be very difficult to have women in power.  The next time one runs for high office, we will be subjected to the same crap that Hillary and Sarah put up with in 2008.  The country is 51% female.  To diss more than half of the population as insufficiently capable of expressing a well-thought opinion is a recipe for disaster.  It can result in the election of a complete neophyte to office who will be easily manipulated by the oligarchs.  How else could it be that a man with no experience or political philosophy can be promoted over a more qualified female in a period of our nation’s history when experience and knowledge base is crucial to that nation’s economic survival?

Overcome it, guys.

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