A “tired stance in an endless debate” about gender differences surfaced recently as a result of the now former Google engineer’s memo about gender and technology prowess. The essence of the argument was that there are certain average gender differences that explain why there are fewer women in technology or engineering, that these differences are mostly a result of biology, and thus there should not be diversity programs to increase representation by women in these areas (Damore, 2017).

Arguments over gender differences are tired (and tiring) because most scientists have long viewed the majority of gender differences as neither substantial nor linked directly or strongly to biology. Among the relevant reviews about which we must remind the public are works by Janet Hyde (e.g., 2005, 2014), Cordelia Fine (e.g., 2010), Rebecca Jordan-Young (e.g., 2010), and Lise Eliot (e.g., 2009).

In 2005 and again in 2014, APA posted summaries of the findings on gender differences. “Men and women: No big difference” (APA, 2005) cited Janet Hyde’s (e.g., 2005) work showing “that across the dozens of studies, consistent with the gender similarities hypothesis, gender differences had either no or a very small effect on most of the psychological variables examined….Furthermore, Hyde found that gender differences seem to depend on the context in which they were measured” (APA, 2005, para. 2-3). In addition, the 2014 APA summary cited work by Hyde and colleagues that showed previous gender gaps closing (APA, 2014; see also Hyde, 2014).

One positive aspect of the controversy is that it has generated some excellent new essays that have appeared in the weeks following the Google memo. These include:

• A research summary by Rosalind Barnett and Caryl Rivers: “We’ve studied gender and STEM for 25 years. The science doesn’t support the Google memo.”
• Articles in technology-heavy online magazines that cite the key research and researchers:
  • “Science doesn’t explain tech’s diversity problem — history does” (Jeong & Becker, 2017)
  • “The actual science of James Damore’s Google memo” (Molteni & Rogers, 2017).
• A personal essay by Cynthia Lee: “I’m a woman in computer science. Let me ladysplain the Google memo to you.”.

The evidence suggests that focusing on structural barriers rather than individual characteristics is the most empirically supportable avenue to pursue in improving the diversity in technology and other fields. Lee has an excellent closing suggestion and call to action: “…there is no shortage of glaring evidence, in individual stories and in scientific studies, that women in tech experience bias and a general lack of a welcoming environment, as do underrepresented minorities. Until these problems are resolved, our focus should be on remedying that injustice.”

NOTE: This essay was a collaborative effort. Members of the Society for Psychology of Women (American Psychological Association Division 35), and in particular Janet S. Hyde, whose work is featured,  made many helpful comments on earlier drafts.

References

American Psychological Association. (2005, October 20). Men and women: No big difference. Psychological Science: Research in Action. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/research/action/difference.aspx

American Psychological Association. (2014, August). Think again: Men and women share cognitive skills. Psychological Science: Research in Action. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/research/action/share.aspx

Barnett, R., & Rivers, C. Retrieved from https://www.recode.net/2017/8/11/16127992/google-engineer-memo-research-science-women-biology-tech-james-damore

Damore, J. (2017, July). Google’s ideological echo chamber. Retrieved from https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3914586/Googles-Ideological-Echo-Chamber.pdf

Eliot, L. (2009). Pink brain, blue brain. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Fine, Cordelia (2010). Delusions of gender: How our minds, society, and neurosexism create difference.  New York, NY: Norton.

Hyde, J. S. (2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. American Psychologist, 60(6), 581-592. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.60.6.581

Hyde, J. S. (2014). Gender similarities and differences. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 373-398. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115057

Jeong, S., & Becker, R. (2017, August 16). Science doesn’t explain tech’s diversity problem — history does. The Verge. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/16/16153740/tech-diversity-problem-science-history-explainer-inequality

Jordan-Young, Rebecca M. (2010). Brainstorm: The flaws in the science of sex differences. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Lee, C. (2017, August 11). I’m a woman in computer science. Let me ladysplain the Google memo to you. Vox. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/8/11/16130452/google-memo-women-tech-biology-sexism

Molteni, M., & Rogers, A. (2017, August 15). The actual science of James Damore’s Google memo. Wired. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/the-pernicious-science-of-james-damores-google-memo/