Re: Sexist shite
>>"Many people want to believe that men and women are equal not only in potential but also ability. They argue that even if there are small differences they should not be explored or explained because of the divisive effect that it has on both sexes."
Let me explain simply to you, what sexism is. Sexism is when you judge someone by their sex rather than all of their qualities as an individual. That includes pre-judging (or prejudice without the hyphen).
There are minor differences between male and female brains as I understand it. Though the differences are small enough and in fact are not even consistent across different individuals of different sexes (i.e. correlation, not causation), that any resultant impact in, for example, mathematical ability has so far been unproven.
As a result, IF there is a difference in mathematical potential between males and females, we know three things about it: One - it is small enough that it is hard to prove; two - it defines only potential (obviously) and barely anyone actually reaches their maximum potential in mathematics; three - it is vastly outweighed by social and cultural factors as evidenced by comparisons of education between different societies - both modern day nations and modern day with the past.
Given these three clear and well-supported statements about any difference in mathematical ability IF one should exist, we can with some very basic probability conclude that it is flawed to make assumptions about any given woman's mathematical ability compared to any given man's. In layspeak, if you were making some decision about someone based on if they were good at maths, and there were even a 2% difference in maximum mathematical potential between males and females which would be quite high, you would have to be an idiot to base it on their sex rather than on who they were.
To justify sexism, there would have to be staggering differences in mathematical ability between men and women - the point there could be no debate. As there is no such staggering difference, then statistically speaking being sexist only leads to unfair discrimination and an inefficient society that doesn't make best use of its resources. And, you know, is grossly offensive and stupid.
There are a number of key figures in the fields of mathematics and science that are female. And that is increasing. Where might we be if we (as a society) hadn't had so many centuries of sexism? How many Emmy Noethers never managed to overcome all the prejudice they faced?
The point of this post isn't to state that you're wrong because you're sexist, it is to show the basic flaws in being sexist. Just a little thought about how great any difference in ability would have to be to make pre-judging people based on sex a sensible thing to do, will tell you it is never a sensible thing to do and never has been.