printTo say that “Science needs women” is as logically consistent as saying that, “‘Heavyweight boxing needs Malays,’ ‘Football needs dwarf goalkeepers,”Quantity surveying needs bisexuals,’ ‘Lavatory cleaning needs left-handers’ …”
The above logical parallels make the absurdity of the argument for more women in science “immediately apparent,” reasons Theodore Dalrymple.
Science does not need women any more than it needs foot fetishists, pole-vaulters, or Somalis. What science needs (if an abstraction such as science can be said to need anything) is scientists. If they happen also to be foot fetishists, pole-vaulters, or Somalis, so be it: but no one in his right mind would go to any lengths to recruit for his laboratory foot fetishists, pole-vaulters, or Somalis for those characteristics alone.
“A Miasma of Untruth” by Theodore Dalrymple: A little long-winded for me, but well-worth the read for that priceless kernel of logic.
UPDATE (7/1): Myron Pauli’s Demonstration of Illogical Reasoning (LOL):
Myron Robert Pauli: “now hold on …. [1] I am a scientist; [2] I need women; therefore [3] science needs women!!!”