1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
Women have achieved or exceeded parity with men in most academic fields yet continue to be outnumbered in the physical sciences, engineering, and math. Is the dearth of women scientists the result of gender bias? Or is it the result of different interests, life circumstances, and cognitive strengths? At a
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time when Congress, the Obama administration, and many science and education leaders are considering dramatic and far-reaching measures to overcome a perceived bias and improve women's prospects in the sciences, Christina Hoff Sommers and her coauthors—both scientists and philosophers—weigh in on this critical discussion in the newly published volume The Science on Women and Science (AEI Press, 2009).
At this AEI event, Sommers and coauthor Rosalind Chait Barnett of the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University will discuss their findings, the larger debate about women and science, and the socioeconomic repercussions of government interventions in the academic sciences such as the planned deployment of Title IX equity law. This event will be moderated by Hanna Rosin, contributing editor of The Atlantic and a founding editor of DoubleX.
| 5:00 p.m. |
Registration |
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| 5:30 |
Panelists: |
Rosalind Chait Barnett, Brandeis University |
| Christina Hoff Sommers, AEI |
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| Moderator: |
Hanna Rosin, The Atlantic |
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| 6:30 |
Question and Answer |
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| 7:00 | Adjournment and Wine and Cheese Reception |
Speaker biographies
Christina Hoff Sommers, a former philosophy professor who taught ethics, is probably best known for her critique of late-twentieth-century feminism. She is also known for her extensive writings, among them Who Stole Feminism? (Touchstone Books, 1995) and The War Against Boys (Touchstone Books, 2001). Her textbook, Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life, a bestseller in college ethics, will soon appear in its eighteenth edition. She recently edited The Science on Women and Science (AEI Press, forthcoming 2009) and is preparing to write a book on the lost history of conservative feminism.
Rosalind Chait Barnett is a senior scientist at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University. Alone and with others, she has published over 110 articles, thirty-nine book chapters, and seven books. Her latest book, Same Difference: How Gender Myths Are Hurting Our Relationships, Our Children, and Our Jobs, written with Caryl Rivers, was published in paperback in 2004 by Basic Books. She and Ms. Rivers are currently working on a new book, The Truth about Boys and Girls, to be published by Columbia University Press. Ms. Barnett is a leading work-family researcher and a frequent keynote speaker in the United States and abroad. Her articles have appeared in academic journals as well as mainstream publications such as the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, The New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune. Ms. Barnett is the 2008 recipient of the biannual Ann Roe Award, given by the Harvard University Graduate School of Education for outstanding research and leadership on issues concerning women.
Hanna Rosin is a contributing editor at The Atlantic. She is also a founding editor of DoubleX, a new women's magazine launched by Slate in May. This year, she was nominated for a National Magazine Award for her Atlantic story about transgendered children and roundly attacked for another story about breast-feeding. She got her start in journalism at The New Republic writing contrarian essays and more recently worked at the Washington Post doing straight reporting, mostly on politics and religion. She has written for The New Yorker, the New York Times and GQ. She was born in Israel; grew up in Queens, New York; and attended Stanford University. She now lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Slate editor David Plotz, and their three children. She is also the author of God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save the Nation.
