JDP wrote on Dave Farber’s IP list: “If anyone should know about the different experiences of men and
women in science, it should be someone who’s been both. I was especially impressed by the [comment that] ‘Ben’s work is so much better than his sister’s’.” For a thought provoking read on gender prejudice, see the Science Daily account of transgender scientist Ben Barres’ recent article in Nature:
When former Harvard University
President Larry Summers voiced the opinion last year that women might be intellectually inferior to men when it comes to math and science, he touched off a nationwide firestorm of controversy. Now, Stanford University professor of neurobiology Dr. Ben Barres is wading into the fray with an essay in this week’s Nature, contending that women are just as scientifically inclined as men — if given a level playing field and the chance to shine.
To this same point, my brother Sean just sent me a great quote from the Talmud: “We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are.”