The argument from feminists is that we shouldn’t worry about underachieving boys when the world’s elite, especially the risk taking entrepreneurs, are nearly all men. On one level, they’re right. Those are the very top, from mathematicians to capitalists, are almost uniformly male. Was Larry Summers right?
To me, there are two issues here. The first: why are men more likely to pursue STEM careers and take entrepreneurial risks? Seems like we have to encourage more well educated women to do the same. This Washington Post op-ed gets at that.
The gender gap issues I write about, by contrast, involve ordinary guys -- males who should be contributing to the economy on lower levels and should be presenting themselves as marriageable mates. But they’re not. That’s a separate issue from the captains of industry question.