*chuckle*

Phil

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/lukas200503020802.asp

March 02, 2005, 8:02 a.m.
Taking Down Summers
Gasping for relevancy at Harvard.

By Carrie Lukas

You know it's a slow news month when statements by the president of Harvard
University make headlines for weeks on end. Over six weeks ago, Larry
Summers speculated that innate difference between genders may play a role in
the under-representation of women among top scientists. The initial flurry
of stories has since been followed by a CNN report, a series of Washington
Post front-page articles, and countless hours of television punditry - all
covering the clash in Cambridge and how professors and students plan to
reprimand their wayward leader.

Many believe this episode reflects an out-of-control campus culture that
makes politically incorrect inquiry a near crime. Commentators - myself
included - reveled in the caricatured reaction of professors like MIT's
Nancy Hopkins, who nearly fainted upon hearing Summers' words. Intellectuals
have debated the merits of Summers's hypothesis: Does the evidence suggested
that more men are naturally gifted in math and science?

A less-examined aspect of the Summers's soap opera is how the anti-Summers
campaign fits in to the larger feminist game plan. Feminists are looking for
opportunities to prove their relevance and power. Toppling Larry Summers
would fit the bill nicely.

It's been a rough year for old-guard feminists. Their archenemy, President
Bush, was re-elected and the Democrat's advantage among women all but
vanished. Many liberal stalwarts, including a defeated John Kerry,
speculated that Democrats' stance and statements on abortion - largely the
product of feminists' influence on the issue - alienated voters and needs
moderation. Feminists watched as Senator Hillary Clinton, poster-woman for
the feminist movement, launched a deliberate campaign to appear moderate and
distance herself from the liberal left.

Another blow came when an ex-board member of the National Organization for
Women in New York released Why Men Earn More. This book shatters the idea
that the "wage gap," or the difference between the median wages
of "working"
men and women, is the result of discrimination.

Warren Farrell isolates the many decisions that affect how much individuals
get paid: from the types of jobs they choose to their willingness to move
locations and work long hours. Farrell details how women tend to make
choices that mean they earn less than men. Women are less likely to work in
hazardous jobs and jobs that are include physical discomfort, like being
outdoors. Women gravitate to jobs that offer greater flexibility, more time
off, and less travel. It's clear from Farrell's analysis that women's
decision to opt for lower pay is not in itself a problem. In fact, it could
be characterized as a healthy tendency in women, to place greater value on
their time and quality of life than the extra dollars.

These developments are bad news for entrenched campus feminists loath to
admit that, in the real world, women often act differently than men. The
breaking of ranks among their key constituents - from reliably liberal
politicians to notoriously leftist Harvard University - has to be alarming.

The effort to take down Summers, for what objectively appears a modest
infraction against feminist orthodoxy, parallels the strategy advocated by
many hawks in the war on terror. Toppling Saddam was a strategic move, they
argue, because other countries are now more wary of crossing the United
States. If Larry Summers is ousted for failing to tightly toe the liberal
line, the feminists will prove their ability to punish future would-be
dissenters. That's appealing for the gender warriors, but terrible for a
Democratic party scrambling to project empathy for middle-American values.

The Larry Summers saga may seem like old news, but it speaks volumes about
the prospects of the feminist movement and the Democrats who answer to them.

-
Carrie Lukas is the director of policy at the Independent Women's Forum.





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