Not biology or culture alone: Response to El-Hout et al. (2021)

Abstract

We respond to El-Hout et al.’s commentary on our paper ‘Men, Women and STEM: Why the Differences and What Should Be Done?’. El-Hout et al. challenge several aspects of the position we present in the paper and outline their recent work on the concept of ‘masculine defaults’: a plausible contributor to the gender gaps found in some STEM fields. For the most part, El-Hout et al. present our views fairly and accurately. In a number of places, however, they misdescribe them, especially when it comes to policy options. In this response, we clarify and expand on our earlier arguments and explore various interesting issues raised by El-Hout et al.’s commentary.