Women have achieved or exceeded parity with men in most academic fields yet continue to be outnumbered in the physical sciences, engineering, and math. Is the dearth of women scientists the result of gender bias? Or is it the result of different interests, life circumstances, and cognitive strengths? At a time when Congress, the Obama administration, and many science and education leaders are considering dramatic and far-reaching measures to overcome a perceived bias and improve women's prospects in the sciences, Christina Hoff Sommers and her coauthors—both scientists and philosophers—weigh in on this critical discussion in the newly published volume The Science on Women and Science (AEI Press, 2009).

At this AEI event, Sommers and coauthor Rosalind Chait Barnett of the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University will discuss their findings, the larger debate about women and science, and the socioeconomic repercussions of government interventions in the academic sciences such as the planned deployment of Title IX equity law. This event will be moderated by Hanna Rosin, contributing editor of The Atlantic and a founding editor of DoubleX.