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I thought so but wanted to make sure. Should one engage with someone who makes sexiest comments? Maybe with humor.
Most of us say, write or do things which we later regard with regret or embarrassment. But people can change. There are genuine Animal Rights/vegan folks who once owned dairies or factory farms, for example. One can only hope.
Most women in my life have an aversion to math. They won't even do basic arithmetic, and something as simple as using a tape measure reliably is iffy. Why? I dunno... your guess is as good as mine.
But I have also met several women (a few math majors in college and several engineers I've worked with) who were as good at math as any man I've met, and much MUCH better at it than your *average* man.
I think the difference is social/cultural... has to do with expectations. Expectations for women are much lower in math and related areas. Men are expected to be able to build things and do mechanical work. If they're intelligent, men are often expected to do some kind of analytical work: engineering, science, finance, computers, etc. There are women in all those areas and some do extremely well... but your typical intelligent female isn't really *expected* to go into one of these fields. Women are far more likely to *choose* less rigorous majors like humanities, health care, social sciences, education, etc.
I was listening to a radio show and a woman called in to answer a question: What year did the singer Billy Joel start taking piano lessons?
a. 1955
b. 1975
c. 1935
I remember the woman was older than me. They asked her age. In age she was roughly halfway between myself and Billy Joel and had always been a fan, which meant (to me) that she should have known better than me. Anyway she got the answer WRONG.
How could that possibly happen? I think the question itself was like a freebie. But I remember thinking, women (strangely) are not good at these kind of questions. She might even get it wrong. Sure enough, she did.
Do women think differently?
What on earth does this have to do with women? Why are you seeing this as a gendered phenomenon?
Most women in my life have an aversion to math. They won't even do basic arithmetic, and something as simple as using a tape measure reliably is iffy. Why? I dunno... your guess is as good as mine.
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That's very interesting, considering that traditionally, most women sewed the clothes for the family. Women exclusively filled the garment-industry sweatshops. The seamstresses you go to to have your clothes altered all use tape measures proficiently.
Some of you guys are making a very good case for there being something wrong with men's perceptions and thought processes. The thread is supposed to be about women, though. Not sure why, but the OP seems to think that missing a question involving historical dates = all women have faulty reasoning abilities. Though we can see right on this thread, that men have that issue, too.
Most women in my life have an aversion to math. They won't even do basic arithmetic, and something as simple as using a tape measure reliably is iffy. Why? I dunno... your guess is as good as mine.
But I have also met several women (a few math majors in college and several engineers I've worked with) who were as good at math as any man I've met, and much MUCH better at it than your *average* man.
I think the difference is social/cultural... has to do with expectations. Expectations for women are much lower in math and related areas. Men are expected to be able to build things and do mechanical work. If they're intelligent, men are often expected to do some kind of analytical work: engineering, science, finance, computers, etc. There are women in all those areas and some do extremely well... but your typical intelligent female isn't really *expected* to go into one of these fields. Women are far more likely to *choose* less rigorous majors like humanities, health care, social sciences, education, etc.
Come to Silicon Valley (where I live) some time... your assumptions will change, when you see how many women work in those "analytical" jobs. It's nearly even now, I think.
While I always preferred liberal arts subjects, and ended up with degrees in English and Library Science, I did MUCH better on the math SAT than the verbal. Like 100 points higher. So even those who enter non-STEM fields might be good at math, and I even like it too! Algebra in particular is both fun and useful imo, but career paths in the subject weren't appealing to me. I realize that's kind of agreeing with your points, but I will argue with your calling the other fields "less rigorous." It might be a different kind of work, but to say it's less difficult is totally subjective... as some might find the work I did/do even more "rigorous" than math or science. All depends on your perspective and personal skills.
Most women in my life have an aversion to math. They won't even do basic arithmetic, and something as simple as using a tape measure reliably is iffy. Why? I dunno... your guess is as good as mine.
But I have also met several women (a few math majors in college and several engineers I've worked with) who were as good at math as any man I've met, and much MUCH better at it than your *average* man.
I think the difference is social/cultural... has to do with expectations. Expectations for women are much lower in math and related areas. Men are expected to be able to build things and do mechanical work. If they're intelligent, men are often expected to do some kind of analytical work: engineering, science, finance, computers, etc. There are women in all those areas and some do extremely well... but your typical intelligent female isn't really *expected* to go into one of these fields. Women are far more likely to *choose* less rigorous majors like humanities, health care, social sciences, education, etc.
Men aren't any better at math/numbers, they're just more confident about it and more willing to just throw out estimates or numbers like they're gospel. I can't count the number of times I've debunked some guy's quantitative claim that was a SWAG that turned out to be way off.
People, both men and women, are good at numbers when it concerns the things that matter to them.
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