Lawrence Summers at the NBER Conference: The Real Deal

Taunya Lovell Banks, University of Maryland School of Law, Jacob A. France Professor of Equality Jurisprudence

Article comments

11 Cardozo Women's Law Journal 501 (2005).

Abstract

This mini commentary is written in response to a public speech made by Lawrence Summers, then President of Harvard University in 2005 in which he asserted that the under-representation of women in science and engineering may be due in part to biological differences in abilities between women and men. This commentary argues that Summers' remarks constitute a brief against affirmative action for women stated so broadly that it easily encompasses objections to affirmative action for blacks and other non-white Americans. It concludes that our inability or unwillingness to make connections between gender bias and racial privilege helps to maintain a status quo dominated by affluent, white males„Ÿa situation that disadvantages us all.