I would like to respond to Beth Dawson, the biostatistics professor at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, who claims that women do not do as well as men on medical science exams because they face cultural disadvantages (“White men score highest on medical science exam,” Sept. 8). She asks, “What kind of family support do they have?” She claims that more women than men are responsible for doing chores which leave them little time for homework.
I am a professional woman. I was encouraged to succeed just as much as my brother. I was taught to take responsibility for my actions and not blame other people for my mistakes or problems. My success (or failure) is due to my own hard work and the efforts I put forth, not because my parents made me do the dishes when I could have been doing my homework.
May I simply suggest to the female medical students (or any other female students) who are jumping on Beth’s bandwagon-stop belly-aching and complaining of the woes of being a woman and all that we have had to endure. If you would just focus your energies on your studies, you would do a whole lot better.
