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| Reality Check (12-13) | | |
with Steve Crilley
Science: A Man's World? A Reality Check on Women and Science
Two months ago, the President of Harvard University got himself into big trouble when he told a symposium on gender diversity that women and science did not mix. He gave three, he said, good reasons for this:
1) Women are not ready to sacrifice enough to to what it takes to get a high powered job
2) Men may have more "instrinsic aptitude" for doing high-level science and
3) It is quite possible that women are discriminated against when they attempt to pursue careers in science.
Lawrence Summers, Harvard University's President, has been explaining himself ever since. But, he's also opened a fierce debate among scientists and women because the fact is that women are under-represented in scientific research labs, in the universities' science departments and in top positions within the academic and corporate scientific communities... from America to Austria!
FM4's Reality Check goes behind the scenes to find out why Summers said what he said and the effect his statments have had at Harvard, across the United States and here in Austria. We talk to American feminist writer Lorraine Dusky, Harvard University professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger from the John F. kennedy School of Government and student representatives there. To find out about how things work for women and science in Austria we speak with 2003's Wittgenstein prize-winner, Dr. Renee Schroeder, the only woman in the 80 member team at the Austrian Academy of Sciences Department for Mathematics and Natural Sciences and Dr. Gunda Köllensperger, Associate Professor in analytical chemistry and the University for Bodenkultur, a successful, young woman in science. |
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 | | | The President of Harvard and the debate...... |
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Österreich |
11.3.2005 | 18:35
