Do men outperform women because of biological differences? Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard University, has provoked a controversy by arguing that men outperform women in math and sciences because of biological differences.

Summers reportedly told a private conference on the position of women and minorities in science and engineering hosted by the National Bureau of Economic Research that discrimination is no longer a career barrier for female academics.

With mounting outrage, Summers apologized saying “I was wrong to have spoken in a way that has resulted in an unintended signal of discouragement to talented girls and women.”

According to media reports, Dr. Summers offered three explanations for the shortage of women in senior posts in science and engineering. He attributed it to their reluctance to work long hours because of childcare responsibilities.

He also reportedly argued that boys outperform girls on high school science and math scores because of genetic difference. “Research in behavioral genetics is showing that things people previously attributed to socialization weren’t due to socialization after all,” he told the Boston Globe.

He cited the example of his daughter whom he gave two toy trucks. He said she treated them like dolls, and named them mummy and daddy trucks. While many women’s groups expressed an outrage at his comments the former Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration stood by his comments, but said he regretted if they were misunderstood.

“I’m sorry for any misunderstanding but believe that raising questions, discussing multiple factors that may explain a difficult problem, and seeking to understand how they interrelate is vitally important,” he told The New York Times in an interview.

The paper said several women who participated in the conference said that they had been surprised or outraged by the comments. It said Nancy Hopkins, a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who once led an investigation of sex discrimination there that led to changes in hiring and promotion, walked out midway through Summers’ remarks.

“When he started talking about innate differences in aptitude between men and women, I just couldn’t breathe because this kind of bias makes me physically ill.

“Let’s not forget that people used to say that women couldn’t drive an automobile.’” Dr. Hopkins was quoted as saying by the paper.

(Compiled from news dispatches

by M. Chooki)