Gender Differences

Autistic children live in a world of their own, disconnected, unable to read the language of the eyes. Simon Baron-Cohen, a British psychologist who has studied gender differences and autism for 20 years, has a controversial explanation. This puzzling neurological disorder, he believes, is a manifestation of the "extreme male brain. " That, he thinks, may explain why four times as many boys as girls fall into the spectrum of mild to severe disorders that make up autism. For Asperger syndrome, a milder form, the ratio is 9-1. Baron-Cohen outlined his theory last week at a conference in Philadelphia.

Harvard president Lawrence Summers goes back into the lions' den today. When he faces hundreds of restive professors in an emergency meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, he will be pilloried as an arrogant, incompetent despot and hailed as a champion of free speech victimized by liberal thought police. The session has been moved to a larger hall to accommodate an expected overflow crowd, after a similar session last Tuesday left professors sitting on the floor and crowded into doorways.

There's nothing worse than being an angry woman in the workplace. Even if a colleague blows an important client relationship by not showing up for a sales call and losing the account in the process. Nope, she can't get angry. Not if she wants to get hired. Not if she wants to get paid. Not if she wants some status in her firm. A man can blow his top, stomp his feet, and shout, and what'll it get him? A raise. Respect. Status. What it'll get a woman? $14,000 less a year.

Clean, fuzzy pets Re: "Canines in the unit," Feb. 27: Hugo is a poodle registered to visit those patients at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood who request a dog visit. As a recipient of two of Hugo's visits last fall, I can tell you he was far less fussy than humans, didn't ask a lot of questions, and improved my mood and my attitude dramatically. (And, oh yes, I had very little need for pain meds during his visits.) Those worrying about disease and germs in visiting pets should know that there are certifying programs with strict standards.

". . . Young girls begin first grade with the same skills and ambitions as young boys, only to have those aspirations diminished and limited by their experience in school. " The survey was done in conjunction with its current project, the Initiative on Equity in Education for Girls and Women. And its premise is simple: American education shortchanges girls. They start school as eager, bright and accomplished as boys, and usually get better grades. But by the time they are adolescents, their self-esteem has dropped and they have been subtly discouraged from pursuing certain careers.

In the 1970s, conservatives said about forced busing: At least it will increase demand for private education. It did. Today, conservatives can take similar cold comfort from the plight of school District 24 in the borough of Queens, New York City. The district's school board has been suspended by school chancellor Joseph Fernandez, who is the sort of bureaucrat-bully who may yet shatter America's valuable but perishable support for public education. The board refuses to implement the "multicultural" curriculum Fernandez's staff wrote to indoctrinate children with particular attitudes about, among other things, homosexuality.

If Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo., and others in her liberal ideological foxhole have their way, women will be assigned to combat roles for the first time in American history. Such a decision would be bad for the military and bad for the country. Most importantly, if women are allowed to be assigned to combat units, the only protection women have enjoyed against the draft would be removed. Should Congress decide to restore the draft because of some future, as yet unforeseen, threat, the courts would surely rule that to exempt women from involuntary service discriminates against men. Would you want your daughter, sister, wife or mother to be forced into combat?

Women do a better job than men in 28 of 31 key management categories, including keeping productivity high and generating ideas, but they do poorly at handling frustration, a new study reported yesterday. This was a departure from traditional presumptions, which credit women with being nurturing team players at work but not with skills associated with top management, one of the study's authors said. "Women have traditionally been given credit for being good in terms of intuitive skills . . . and the study confirmed that they do do well and outperform men in that area," said Janet Irwin, who wrote the study, distributed by the nonprofit Foundation for Future Leadership.

What are the chances that "new media" - specifically the blogosphere - might help women develop and maintain an interest in the traditionally male-dominated world of politics? Well, although gender differences still hang on, I see a promising media environment increasingly supportive of women and their interests, with the potential to create communities that can bring about large-scale change. In a look at the public's news interests over the past year, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reported a substantial difference in what the genders find interesting.

As Bill Clinton struggles with accusations about his relationship with one young woman, he is counting on his political popularity with millions of women to help see him through. Polls show women are more likely than men to want Clinton to remain in office, even if it turns out he had an affair with a 21-year-old aide, and even if he did encourage her to lie about it, allegations that Clinton has flatly denied. "Women find this [scandal] ridiculous, and men are anti-Clinton," said Georgetown University sociologist Suzanna Walters after a survey of her students.

WHAT WAS she thinking? Why would Justice Clarence Thomas ' wife reach out to Anita Hill to ask for an apology after all these years? Unless this was a clever publicity stunt, Virginia Thomas is one disturbed cookie to dredge that up now. The dramatic confirmation hearings during which Hill accused Thomas of sexually harassing her when she was his aide happened a long time ago. In the end, Thomas prevailed. He got his lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court and Hill was all but sidelined to a life of obscurity.

After a glorious autumn, with no heat or air-conditioning, it's time for winter's thermostat sweepstakes: How looow can you go?   Turning down the heat certainly is an eco-plus, given that 30 percent to 50 percent of a home's energy use in winter is for warming it.   Every degree lower can save roughly 2 percent of the heating bill.   Energy efficiency experts recommend 68 degrees in the daytime, 60 at night, governed by a programmable thermostat, which is especially important.

What are the chances that "new media" - specifically the blogosphere - might help women develop and maintain an interest in the traditionally male-dominated world of politics? Well, although gender differences still hang on, I see a promising media environment increasingly supportive of women and their interests, with the potential to create communities that can bring about large-scale change. In a look at the public's news interests over the past year, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reported a substantial difference in what the genders find interesting.

There's nothing worse than being an angry woman in the workplace. Even if a colleague blows an important client relationship by not showing up for a sales call and losing the account in the process. Nope, she can't get angry. Not if she wants to get hired. Not if she wants to get paid. Not if she wants some status in her firm. A man can blow his top, stomp his feet, and shout, and what'll it get him? A raise. Respect. Status. What it'll get a woman? $14,000 less a year.

Clean, fuzzy pets Re: "Canines in the unit," Feb. 27: Hugo is a poodle registered to visit those patients at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood who request a dog visit. As a recipient of two of Hugo's visits last fall, I can tell you he was far less fussy than humans, didn't ask a lot of questions, and improved my mood and my attitude dramatically. (And, oh yes, I had very little need for pain meds during his visits.) Those worrying about disease and germs in visiting pets should know that there are certifying programs with strict standards.

A few years ago, one of my sisters-in-law came to town with two of her kids, a boy and a girl. Over ice cream, the adults in the group asked these great kids what they'd buy if they found a treasure chest full of gold. My nephew pondered. Then he said, "A gun. " Then, more pondering. "No, wait. A sword would be good, too. Maybe I'd get a gun and sword. " We then asked my niece the same question. She immediately replied, "A cheerleader uniform and a grown-up makeup kit. " She didn't need to revisit the question.

Harvard president Lawrence Summers goes back into the lions' den today. When he faces hundreds of restive professors in an emergency meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, he will be pilloried as an arrogant, incompetent despot and hailed as a champion of free speech victimized by liberal thought police. The session has been moved to a larger hall to accommodate an expected overflow crowd, after a similar session last Tuesday left professors sitting on the floor and crowded into doorways.

Autistic children live in a world of their own, disconnected, unable to read the language of the eyes. Simon Baron-Cohen, a British psychologist who has studied gender differences and autism for 20 years, has a controversial explanation. This puzzling neurological disorder, he believes, is a manifestation of the "extreme male brain. " That, he thinks, may explain why four times as many boys as girls fall into the spectrum of mild to severe disorders that make up autism. For Asperger syndrome, a milder form, the ratio is 9-1. Baron-Cohen outlined his theory last week at a conference in Philadelphia.

As Bill Clinton struggles with accusations about his relationship with one young woman, he is counting on his political popularity with millions of women to help see him through. Polls show women are more likely than men to want Clinton to remain in office, even if it turns out he had an affair with a 21-year-old aide, and even if he did encourage her to lie about it, allegations that Clinton has flatly denied. "Women find this [scandal] ridiculous, and men are anti-Clinton," said Georgetown University sociologist Suzanna Walters after a survey of her students.

Women do a better job than men in 28 of 31 key management categories, including keeping productivity high and generating ideas, but they do poorly at handling frustration, a new study reported yesterday. This was a departure from traditional presumptions, which credit women with being nurturing team players at work but not with skills associated with top management, one of the study's authors said. "Women have traditionally been given credit for being good in terms of intuitive skills . . . and the study confirmed that they do do well and outperform men in that area," said Janet Irwin, who wrote the study, distributed by the nonprofit Foundation for Future Leadership.