Shots In The Dark: Women and Work: Was Larry Summers Right?

Wednesday, May 09, 2024

Women and Work: Was Larry Summers Right?

In Business Week, economist Laura D'Andrea Tyson writes about Larry Summers' women-in-science remarks—but not the ones having to do with "innate aptitude."

In his controversial remarks about the underrepresentation of women in engineering and science, Lawrence H. Summers, president of Harvard University, argued that top leadership positions in academia, business, and law require a time commitment that many women are unwilling to make. In both the U.S. and Europe several high-profile cases of successful women quitting their jobs seem to confirm his view that women are choosing to opt out of high-powered jobs. The opt-out hypothesis could explain why, according to a recent U.S. survey, 1 in 3 women with an MBA is not working full-time...

Tyson goes on to point out that many women take time out of their careers in order to spend more time with their children, and that this has a significant impact on how much money they make down the road, as well as women's patterns of work.

...Many women cope with job-family trade-offs by working part-time, reducing the number of hours they work in full-time jobs, and declining promotions.

Tyson's conclusion?

Larry Summers was on to something when he speculated that many women are unwilling to make the time commitment required to attain leadership positions in demanding professions.

My only quibble with Tyson: This aspect of Summers' remarks were not, as I recall, particularly controversial. They certainly weren't the thing that got him in trouble.

¶ 2:30 PM

Comments:

What a joke Richard. I am a Harvard women with no family BECAUSE they would get in the way of my career. I work 80 hours a week at least, no exaggeration. I have no home life. And I still experience discrimination all the time. Why don't people like Laura Tyson interview people like me before she says that no one is willing to make the commitment. Some of us have and still get mistreated.

# posted by Anonymous : May 9, 2024 3:11 PM

But aren't you in fact proof of what Tyson is talking about? That it's very difficult to have children and make a full-time commitment to your career?

# posted by Richard Bradley : May 9, 2024 3:16 PM

Anon 3:11
In what way do you experience discrimination at Harvard all the time?

# posted by Anonymous : May 9, 2024 4:05 PM

She's probably too busy to answer that question.

Funny--RB is right, she's proving Tyson right and calling her piece a joke at the same time.

# posted by Squatting Egret : May 9, 2024 5:09 PM

the thread below titled 'Drew Faust Makes a Move' has some pretty nasty stuff suggesting that there are people in Mass Hall spying on each other... Let's hope its all bull...

# posted by Anonymous : May 9, 2024 8:04 PM

I just read it, yes it is awful. There is an allegation that Larry used his assistant Spencer to spy on Deans and then used this information to extort resignations and silence from them.

It's insane...just not possible...

# posted by Anonymous : May 9, 2024 8:13 PM

I do not believe that Spencer intimidated Ellen Lagemann to extort silence from her... Lagemann is married to a renouned litigator... she's not easily silenced and would not be extorted easily.

# posted by Anonymous : May 9, 2024 8:16 PM

One question 8.04: do you mean spying as in bugging offices and homes and reading the trash?

# posted by Anonymous : May 9, 2024 8:23 PM

8:23, you sound worried.

# posted by Anonymous : May 9, 2024 8:37 PM

Worried? Not really. Looking forward to the rededication of the E.L. Room on May 18th.

# posted by Anonymous : May 9, 2024 9:32 PM

Interesting to read Tyson's comments on LHS's remarks. Especially because she was actually marginalized by Larry when they were working together in Washington--I gathered that LHS didn't think she was too bright (he loved to point out that she knew a lot about "economic history")Maybe she feels gracious after proving that she's a far better leader at LSE than he was at Harvard.

# posted by Anonymous : May 9, 2024 9:40 PM

For CS it all began with that year spent in Germany...

# posted by Anonymous : May 9, 2024 9:44 PM

Say wha?

# posted by Anonymous : May 9, 2024 9:51 PM

9:44:

Wait, you thought *I* was **CS**? I've hardly even HEARD of CS.

No, really.

SE

# posted by Standing Eagle : May 9, 2024 10:08 PM

live under a rock?

# posted by Anonymous : May 9, 2024 11:07 PM

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