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A Mathematician’s Manifesto
for Rethinking Gender
EUGENIA CHENG
PROFILE BOOKS
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Copyright © 2020 by Eugenia Cheng
Cover copyright © 2020 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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Basic Books
Hachette Book Group
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Printed in the United States of America
Originally published in June 2020 by Profile Books
First US Edition: August 2020
Published by Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary
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trademark of the Hachette Book Group.
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Print book interior design by Trish Wilkinson.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
ISBNs: 978-1-5416-4650-6 (hardcover); 978-1-5416-4651-3 (ebook)
LSC-C
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
9781541646506-text.indd 4 6/4/20 10:51 AM
rich white male
rich white non-male rich non-white male poor white male
rich non-white non-male poor white non-male poor non-white male
poor non-white non-male
men
are observed to be
generally
Y
men men men
are by nature are observed to be are observed to be
generally always generally
Y Y Z
men men men
are by nature are by nature are observed to be
always generally always
Y Z Z
men
are by nature
always
Z
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age of subject
certainty that what we are measuring is:
nature, not nurture
indicative of adult behaviour
men women
£200,000 £10,000
£200,000 £10,000
£200,000 £10,000
£200,000 £10,000
£200,000 £1 million
mean £200,000 £208,000
men women
£100,000 £10,000
£100,000 £10,000
£100,000 £105,000
£450,000 £105,000
£450,000 £1 million
mean £240,000 £246,000
median £100,000 £105,000
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mean mean
mode
median
mean
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pressures reaction equality
on men
pressures equality reaction
on women
‘masculine’ ‘feminine’
addressing issues of gender bias
miserable women
and progress
accusations of
‘reverse sexism’
maintaining the
‘gender blindness’
status quo
addressing issues of character
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..
.
√ 2i
3
− 12 + 2 i
1i
1
−2 −1 0 1 2
−1i
√
3
− 12 − 2 i
−2i
..
.
society favours Y is associated with
men men
misogyny description prescription
perpetuation of
power structures
society favours
Y
men are
more Y
structural
bias
men are more
successful/powerful
! "# $ ! "# $
explicit bias implicit bias
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individuals’ society’s
behaviour structures
INDIVIDUALS SOCIETY
individuals’ society’s
attitudes expectations
Y is needed Y is an men tend to be
for success ingressive quality more ingressive
ingressive qualities
are needed for
success
men tend to be
more successful
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ingressive
congressive
Do you notice the risk?
yes no
Do you mitigate it? ACTION
no yes
Do you go ahead anyway? ACTION
no yes
ACTION
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