There
are ominous signs that new versions of biological determinism have returned, with the claim that women are not meant, by nature or by psyche, for achievement. Myths about gender difference now “prove” that women should be confined to jobs that use their special “relational” abilities, that women’s brains are not designed for leadership, and that they “cheerfully choose” low-paying jobs. We hear that even when they do get good jobs, the smartest women reject them for home and hearth. The media have embraced this narrative with gusto, and there is a real danger that these ideas are seeping into law and public policy as well.
The limitations of women’s brains are on the front line in this battle of ideas.
One trendy new theory is that women’s brain structures make them ill-suited for leadership. In
The Essential Difference (featured on the September 8, 2003, cover of
Newsweek), psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University claims the ...
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