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From: jbf@ccieng5.UUCP (Jens Bernhard Fiederer)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: ET sex roles, request for clarificat
Message-ID: <441@ccieng5.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 16-May-84 12:26:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: ccieng5.441
Posted: Wed May 16 12:26:46 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 17-May-84 04:36:46 EDT
References: <800@cbneb.UUCP>
Organization: CCI Central Engineering, Rochester, NY
Lines: 30

If a difference among two groups is perceived, it is very difficult to
say, with certainty: "All the difference is due to environment."  I could
argue convincingly that girls are brought up to play with dolls that wet
themselves, and change their diapers, and I never was.  This lack of
preparation might explain the scarcity of guys that get pregnant.  The
fact that SOME training is involved obviously does not mean that ONLY
training is responsible for differences.  It only contradicts the
hypothesis that ONLY genetic factors are responsible for the difference.

I would agree that, in the case of women and mathematics, the cause of
the difference is not yet determined.  I know some excellent female
mathematicians, but far more women who are brilliant otherwise, but
reluctant to even consider a formal proof.  I am not brash enough to
claim to understand the basis of this phenomenon completely.

While, regardless of the performance of the group, individuals should not
be fettered, the possibility of actual differences DOES make "quota" controls
potentially hazardous:  if only 45% of the females surpassed the average
male in mathematics, and you enforced a 50/50 division of labor in the field,
the women would, on the average, end up as poorer performers, being burdened
by their substandard 5%.  If only the women above a certain level of competence,
and only the men above a certain level of competence were admitted, this
bias would disappear (but possibly leave a numeric imbalance).


The Man of Fifty Years
-- 
"Some people are eccentric, but I am just plain odd"
Reachable as
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