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February 7, 2005
Women and Science, Men and . . . ?
Poor President Summers.
Let's talk about a different discrepancy, one with a hundred explanations which no one finds satisfying; everyone involved in study abroad programs agrees that more women go that men -- at lots of schools the imbalance approaches 70/30 (my 2003 program in Rome was 12:8 female to male and everyone on campus thought that was quite good). I sat on a board last year during which the professionals offered a number of possible explanations. I have no idea if anyone has done any serious research about this, but I'll offer some as an anecdotal report:
1. Male students have a stronger committment to sports, and that committment often precludes a term away from school (that would be true of anyone who wants to start at, say, lacrosse at these Colleges. Lacrosse is a Division 1 sport here.)
2. Male students have a stronger tendency to major in sciences (yeah, yeah, yeah) which all have far more tracked curricula than the humanities or social sciences. There are small programs for Math majors (intercollegiate, not our own) and we have a program for biology majors in Australia. Want to major in Chemistry? Can't study abroad and graduate in 4 years.
3. The parents of male students are perceived (please! this isn't me! this is a statement from a woman who has been working with study abroad programs for more than 15 years!) to think that study abroad is "girl stuff." In families with both male and female children the female children are more likely to study abroad than the males (though the male children in those families are more likely to study abroad than males from other families).
4. Administrators and professors involved in study abroad programs perceive female students as more intellectually adventurous than male students. I disagreed with that one - certainly in the tiny sample of MY Rome program they weren't.
By the way, at these Colleges it isn't just a matter of those chosen to participate -- the applications come in greater numbers from women.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at February 7, 2005 7:57 AM