ABSTRACT
According to MIT, their confession of gender discrimination was based on hard facts, such as findings of gender differences in the laboratory space allocated to male and female faculty. A first critique of the study, published by the Independent Women's Forum, pointed out that the MIT report actually presented no data whatsoever showing any gender differences in laboratory space or any other resource. A second critique found dramatic differences in scientific productivity between MIT male and female faculty that could easily have justified any gender differences in prestige, pay, and perquisites. This chapter summarizes the content of the "MIT Study on the Status of Women." It discusses the difficulty of mounting a challenge to the MIT study outside cyberspace. The chapter also discusses the different nature of scientific debate in cyberspace as opposed to the restrained and time-lagged discussions of professional journals.
