Harvard University President Lawrence Summers said women have less "innate ability" to achieve advancement in the science and math fieldsthan their male counterparts.
Mr. Summers was the 71st US Treasury Secretary. Since 2001 he has been Harvard's President.
He later partially blamed the shortage of women in sciences on child care.
In a later statement Dr. Summers said, "My remarks have been misconstrued as suggesting that women lack the ability to succeed at the highest levels of math and science."
Several people walked out of the conference after hearing the remarks.
One said she "would have either blacked out or thrown up", if she had not walked out.
