To argue that a small number of women in a given sector means ipso facto that gender differences are responsible is reckless and, to date, scientifically baseless. Fewer than 5 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, and only 14 percent of U.S. senators are female. Is this proof that innate sex differences are keeping women from achieving in these areas? Consider that not so long ago, the prospect of a female president or secretary of state was unthinkable. Now we're up to two female secretaries of state, and Sen. Hillary Clinton is a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. As has been widely noted, women were once believed to be inferior musicians -- until orchestras began blind auditions behind a screen, hiding the gender of the musician.

Until they can cite a supporting body of evidence, Summers and others shouldn't make comments that disparage all women. If you aren't convinced, replace the word "Jew" or "black" for "woman" in the coverage of Fiorina.

Summers' defenders have offered some alternative explanations to genetics for the dearth of women in science, such as discrimination that leads to stereotyping about women's abilities and the lack of adequate child care, which would allow women to pursue careers while raising children. And in more rigorous careers such as science, many women are unable or unwilling to commit to the years of education and training that are required to reach the top echelons because of their family obligations. With all these other factors indisputably contributing to the dearth of women in the sciences and at the higher levels of other professions, the desire of Summers and his supporters to tie the phenomenon to an inherent lack of ability is perplexing.

One irony in all this is that HP's board, which watched closely as a woman failed to run the company effectively, has included a woman on its shortlist of internal candidates to take over where Fiorina left off. If this well-established company is able to separate Fiorina's performance from her gender, then is it too much to expect the media, the analysts they quote, and the academics who are weighing in to do the same?

Hewlett-Packard apparently knows that many factors account for Fiorina's failure that have nothing to do with her genetics. She was the first outsider brought in to run an insular company that was accustomed to doing everything the "HP way," and she has been described as a cultural mismatch. She was bold and charismatic but by most accounts better at the big picture than at day-to-day management. She led a lifestyle of private jets, yachts and large compensation packages that was foreign and alienating to most people who worked at HP. Most important, she oversaw a failed merger with Compaq.

Fiorina's situation recalls that of Steve Case when he became chairman of AOL Time Warner after orchestrating the disastrous merger with AOL. But when Case was pushed out, nobody attributed it to his gender. And when Gerald Levin -- the other half of the duo who orchestrated the merger -- was fired, he was quickly replaced by another man, and nary was a word mentioned about men's inherent inability to run major corporations.

I am part of the first generation to be told that girls can do anything boys can do. Yet the truth is, it's still hard for women to reach the top echelon of many professions. Nevertheless, I would rather tell young women to reach for the stars than give them messages that they might fail because of their genetic makeup.

True equality will be achieved when women are allowed to fail just as men do, all the time. Former NOW president Patricia Ireland famously said that equality exists when an average woman moves up the career ladder at the same pace as an average man. Equality also exists when a female CEO loses her job for bad performance and it is treated the same way as a male CEO who loses his job for bad performance. We clearly still have a long way to go.

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