Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Innate Gender Differences

One of the best way to get yourself shunned in Academia is to speculate about gender difference in intelligence. That's why this guy--rumor has it, it's Robert Gordon--writes anonymously.

He (she?) discusses work put out by an Italian professor I once worked with, which shows that the gender gap in mathematical achievement disappears in more gender equal countries, and even reverses itself for sufficiently progressive societies. The unnamed genderist finds that such a gap exists and is durable. The Italians find otherwise because gaps close at high levels of ability--which are also countries where feminism is in vogue. Some statistics shows that this gap is largely explained through genetics. If you get tired of genetics-intelligence hand-waving, just check out Gladwell.

Cue the just-so evolutionary stories. I imagine telling these must be a high point of parenting.

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