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Gender Gaps In Medicine


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You didn't answer my question. How does performance on a single test say anything about social factors in mathematics ability? On math tests - objective evaluations - several prior studies have indicated that women do worse when told that males are inherently better at math. That stereotype is a self-fulfilling prophecy, one you're perpetuating here.

 

Additionally, while places like Iran have significant barriers for women, gender gaps in mathematics performance are not universal and, interestingly, might be lessened or even reversed in some lower SES countries typically thought of as being less favourable for women. For example, while Iran itself is not listed in this study, countries like UAE and Qatar - hardly bastions of female empowerment - have a gender gap in mathematics performance favourable for women, not men. We shouldn't assume places like Canada and Europe are doing better on measures of gender equality in all respects, nor that evidence of reasonably equal opportunity by a single woman in Iran is indicative of equality of opportunities in general - in Iran or otherwise.

 

I never said that there aren't societal factors that cause more women to enter medicine than men. I believe there are significant social factors causing that disparity which are worth addressing. I mentioned previously my concerns about primary school education and the influences boys get with regards to prioritizing school performance or in being caring, all of which can contribute to a lack of interest in higher education and medicine in particular. Where I objected was to the notion that the disparity is due to biases at the admissions level, particularly deliberate or intentional biases, which I've already explained at length why the data doesn't support that conclusion.

 

The idea of a wider bell curve for men has been postulated many times and I'm sympathetic to that notion, but have yet to see strong data to support or refute it. If you have any good-quality studies, I'd be interested in reading them.

 

That's an interesting article, ralk! As I went through the study, I wondered why math and reading skills would show such different gender tendencies and what was particular about those countries with stronger female math performance, including Qatar and Jordan.  Women displayed stronger reading performance in all countries, but had stronger math performance in only a handful of countries.  It seemed to me as if both abilities should show some positive correlation as being grouped together as "scholastic subjects" across countries.  

 

Without the data, it's hard to do much analysis, but Qatar and Jordan, which had the largest women math gap, also had the largest reading gap.  On the other end of the scale, Colombia and Chile, with the highest male math gap showed the opposite tendency.  The scholastic achievement of men, at least in the gulf states, may simply be lesser than that of women for cultural or societal reasons as well.  It's unclear why reading would universally show stronger female performance, although in medicine this doesn't appear to be the case with the (old) MCAT VR.

 

The gender gap is a known issue in mathematics, but not often discussed.  This article drawn from a survey at Harvard math department, suggests that the gap appears to be partly cultural and partly due to the current imbalance.  At Harvard for instance, despite a stated diversity policy, there are almost no tenured  female mathematicians.

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