Feminists seek science parity

Flawed studies, misinformation and a focused political agenda are at work again as another wave of feminism is hell-bent on transforming college science and math departments into politically correct, anti-male bastions of affirmative action.

With a compliant Congress, willing administrators and huge foundations with plenty of funding, the feminist oligarchy is ready to launch a full assault on college mathematics, physics and engineering programs nationwide.

The epicenter of their indignation is the fact that women comprise only 19 percent of math professors, 11 percent of physics professors and 10 percent of computer science and electrical engineering professors on college campuses nationwide. As self-appointed arbiters of all things pertaining to gender, the feminist establishment has deemed the makeup of these academic fields to be proof positive of rampant male sexism in need of remedy.

Using these numbers in several misleading and ideologically driven studies, the feminists have set their sights on establishing a “statistical parity” reminiscent of what has happened in the past 20 years in college athletics.

What Title IX did for college sports, mainly the establishment of strict quota systems, the feminists want to do to science, mathematics and technology programs across the country. The gender makeup of these programs will now be at the mercy of arbitrary ratios established by feminist leaders.

Kathie Olsen, deputy director of the National Science Foundation, offers a chilling scenario. “Ultimately, our goal is to transform, institution by institution, the entire culture of science and engineering in America, and to be inclusive of all … for the good of all.”

The fact that females have made extraordinary gains in academia in the last 35 years is of no concern to the feminists. In 2006, women earned 57 percent of all bachelor’s degrees and 59 percent of all master’s degrees. They also earned more PhDs in humanities, social sciences, education and life sciences.

At many leading universities females outnumber males by a 3-to-2 ratio. In one particularly stunning accomplishment, females now comprise 77 percent of students in veterinary schools. In 1965 the number stood at 8 percent.

While women’s centers are dominant on many campuses, traditional male enclaves such as fraternities and sports teams are under attack or are eliminated.

Also of no concern to the feminists is the huge amount of empirical evidence that suggests that women gravitate towards fields such as education, psychology and art history while men are more interested in fields of science, mathematics and engineering. This fact of the nature of men and women flies in the face of feminist doctrine and is easily “airbrushed” aside.

Traditionally, science and math departments have been inhabited by professors who operated in a generally competitive, objective manner. They were left alone to pursue research and study, free from the toxic brew of race, gender and identity politics. This will all change if the feminists are successful.

What multiculturalism, diversity and other leftist fancies have done to a large portion of the humanities is unfortunately in the cards for science education.

Ike Morgan has taught high school math and physics in Maine high for 24 years. He lives in Exeter.