The Irrelevant Inferiority

            Women have been considered less intelligent than men due to Paul Broca’s scientific discovery of their inferior brain size. Stephen Jay Gould, the author of “Women’s Brains,” disputed this claim and engaged in his own research to support his counter theory. Gould effectively argued that biological labeling is “irrelevant and highly injurious” (Gould 190) when imposed on a set group, such as one of a certain sex. Through his scientific research, his knowledge on discoveries of the brain size, and his opinions and questions on the topic, he is able to contradict Paul Broca’s discoveries that “women, like it or not, had smaller brains than men, and therefore, could not equal them in intelligence” (185).

            In order for Gould to discuss the idea that women are not superior due to their smaller brain mass, he must present his knowledge on the topic. He does so through professors and reformers that disputed and agreed with his claims. Paul Broca, who Gould explains is a “professor of clinical surgery at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris” (185), studied the difference in craniometry for so long that he “exerted great influence and [even] won high esteem as a jewel of the nineteenth century science” (185). In his essay, Gould, who “reject[s] the inferiority of women” (185), includes excerpts by George Eliot and L. Manouvrier to support his own beliefs. Gould shows readers that although Broca was held in high standards due to his discoveries, only support from other researchers along with the right calculations truly establishes one’s credentials in society.

            In “Women’s Brains,” Gould does not just affirm his authority on the research of brain size, he also performs his own experiments out of his great disagreement with Broca’s claims. He often questions Broca’s work and whether he “measured with the most scrupulous care and accuracy” (185). Gould’s questions are not just literary devices, but they are also an expression of his emotions. Even though women “were opposed by numbers [of scientific calculations]” (185), he strongly believed that Broca’s data and “his interpretation [was] ill-founded” (187). He even went to the extent of performing his own experiments on the brain. He concluded that Broca’s research was lazy and imprecise because he did not take into consideration that “brain weight increases with height” (Broca used taller men), that “brain weight decreases with age” (he used older women), and that “degenerative disease often entails a substantial diminution of brain size” (188). Gould even uses his own opinions to explain that “the whole enterprise of setting a biological value upon groups [is] irrelevant” and suppresses “women of extraordinary talent” (190). By his opinions and questions, Gould expresses his emotion and his logic on brain size. He also shows his passion on how much he wants to save women so “they may dream” (190) and not be constrained under false scientific discoveries.

            Without proper measurements and calculations, science should not be used to determine the inferiority or superiority of anything, including races and sexes. Perhaps without biological labeling, groups of society will be able to “apply [more of their extraordinary talent]” (190) in the world.