The concept of Essentialism states that there are innate, essential differences between men and women. That is, we are born with certain traits. This is often used as an explanation for why there are so few women in science and technology. It is also used as a rationale for pigeonholing, offering limited education, hiring discrimination, etc.
Biologically essential differences between men and women's skills and social behaviour — or at least those of men as a group and women as a group — are the subject of active research. The strength of the findings of this research is often exaggerated when repeated, both by the media and by individuals. It is also common to find people in informal situations implying that a difference in the mean or median performance of men and women implies that any individual man will have that same difference from any individual woman.
In recent times, advocates of Sociobiology and Evolutionary psychology often claim evolved genetic differences between the brains of men and women as the source of behavioral differences in society.
Incidents
- Lawrence Summers made sexist remarks about women in science
- Jonathan Tweet, co-author of 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons, commented on how current roleplaying appeals to men is because of evolved tendencies
- SurveyFail
Further reading
- FAQ: But men and women are born different. Isn't that obvious? from "Finally, a Feminism 101 blog"
- Turns out girls are good at math -- who knew? (Feministing)
- Girls' math skills now measure up to boys' (MSNBC)
- "Parents and teachers persist in thinking boys are simply better at math, said Janet Hyde, the University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who led the study. And girls who grow up believing it wind up avoiding harder math classes."
- Pink Brain, Blue Brain: Claims of sex differences fall apart. (Newsweek)
- Playing an action video game reduces gender differences in spatial cognition. - research by Ian Spence at the University of Toronto.
- How does biology explain the low numbers of women in computer science? Hint: it doesn’t.