Abstract

Lawrence H. Summers, an eminent scholar and admired public servant took office as Harvard's 27th President on July 1, 2001. In the National Bureau for Economic Research Conference held on January 14, 2005, Summers offered three reasons as explanations for women's under representation at the upper levels of sciences and engineering. The reasons given - women wanted to have children, and hence did not put in the 80-hour week, that there were innate differences between men and women, created a furor among various sections of the people. Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences took the unprecedented step of passing, by 218 votes to 185, a motion of no confidence against the University's President. For his part, the normally pugnacious Summers promised to temper his words and also take a more detailed note of the situation and correct it. The resultant creation of two task forces, one on women faculty and the other on women in the sciences, signaled a new - willingness of the Summers administration to do something about the gender imbalance. A rethinking on the issue of positive discrimination towards women and the minorities also looked likely. The present case study looks at the present situation and the debate of why women are under represented as well as the issues taken up in an academic institution with respect to affirmative actions.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

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Keywords

Lawrence H. Summers, National Bureau for Economic Research Conference, Differences between men and women, Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Gender imbalance, Discrimination towards women and the minorities, Debate on why women are under represented and Affirmative actions