Been a long time since I did any chem, should’ve, but rediscovered my interest much too far into college to do it. Read: two terms before graduation. The only thing that gave me fits in high school were the damn gas laws…screw you PV=nRT!

Gabrielle: Aqueous Geochemistry actually sounds pretty interesting, what are the pre-reqs? If they involve “O” and “Chem” anywhere near one another, count me out.

Emily…if I was a nice sailor, and you were willing to bake a pie for me, what type would you be willing to make?

(Sorry.)

Dan: Thanks for making the point that geology is a damn hard field. If we want to talk about getting our asses handed to us, try taking Aqueous Geochemistry (400 level geology).

And there are other nuances besides: gender norms in professional life have a way of becoming self-perpetuating. For instance, I’m a pure mathematician, which is a highly male profession, and one (not implausible) reason given for statistical underrepresentation of women is a relative lack of high-profile female role models. In my opinion, this is not the kind of thing that can be legislated away - but people within the field have rationally self-interested motives to welcome talented mathematicians of any shape, size, colour, or gender, so I’m cautiously optimistic that the status quo is going to change over time regardless.

Andy: Are you high?

Olly: Exactly.

Also (he said, through clenched teeth) there are other ways of measuring the difficulty - or net satisfaction accrued by the worker - of a job than its salary. I offer myself as a case in point.

I do think that women are just as smart as guys, but this swing in minn. of 43 guys for 57 girls, can be explained to market perversion rather than level playing field.

Tim, that’s a good observation about secondary teachers too. Why do more females become teachers than guys? Read my first paragraph.

Emily, if the government provided more opportunity to women to gain degrees, how much subsidy should it provide? I think you’re completly right that the government’s hand is in this. But that negates the argument that “it’s natural for this is happen.”

Dan, There are many branches of geology, but I believe that government employ most of the geologists that come out of the UofO. I tend to think that most of them won’t be working in oil exploration. There is math in geology but I would still have to ask, why are there more women in geology than men? Do girls have a particular preference than guys? Or is something else going on. The government still employs most geologists i believe.

I do have a buddy who’s a mining engineer, which I imagine involves a lot of both geology and math, and who I know is much smarter than I am, so it’s entirely possible that I’m missing something.

Then again, there’s probably a big difference between “I take core samples to examine strata”, “I use a Mass Spec to examine soil conditions from those strata” and, “I use geophysics to model earth quakes.” If I use my brain for a minute, there’s likely a sliding scale of difficulty within geology (thusly making it sort of silly to generalize). Same way there’s a big difference between, “I’m an economic historian” and “My name is Milton Friedman”.

DRINK!

In all seriousness, though, I think a lot of this has to do with the debased value of College education than anything else.

I don’t much care if there are more women than men in college, because I don’t think it matters much. I will say, however, that the disproportionate number of Female elementary and secondary teachers gives me pause. I’m not sure of the consequences, and I’m not sure it makes a hell of a lot of difference, but I am concerned that any male wanting to work with kids (that being anybody under 18) is looked at with suspicion.

And I have some concerns about “maleness” perhaps being discouraged as a result, but that’s more of an intangible worry than anything else. And I certainly don’t think any of this is a cause for government action.

Geology requires a lot of background in math and chemistry, and much of geology also involves pretty advanced physics. So, to correct you, “much in the way that econ is less hard than Physics or Chemistry (because there is less math) geology is” MORE “hard than econ.”

Andy and Tim: I don’t see how looking at payoffs and subsidies does anything to determine which subjects are more difficult than others.

Andy: Basically, your entire argument turns on the assumption that women as a whole are less intelligent and motivated than men as a whole. Until you prove that canard, all your economic pap about subsidies and socialism amounts to jacksquat in terms of why more women are earning degrees than men.

(2) Could it be that many women were not afforded the opprtunity due not just to social pressure for a long period of time but also because many colleges even 30 years ago where still hesitant to admit women? Historically mens’ and womens’ colleges were seperate with the vast majority of women’s colleges catering to vocational rather than academic or research endevours.

This aside, any savy girl/woman who read the posts of those individuals’ names beginning with the letter “A” would be wary of any advances from either of you. I hope for both your sakes that you’re gay.

I have the stangest compulsion all of the sudden to make a pie…perhaps to wash away the women’s studies rhetoric from me.

Are you going to bite the hand that feeds?