The answer is E. I go through the question in detail in the full solution below (taken from the GMATFix App).



-Patrick

If in the first part of comparison, we can compare the male counterparts to women scientists, what's wrong in option A where men of science are compared to female counterparts ?

The two comparisons are not structured the same way even if it seems that they are.

Like their male counterparts, women scientists are average...
...but unlike men of science, their female counterparts have had to work...

The placement of the pronoun (blue) and the referent (green) was switched; in the first part referent is in the independent clause and the pronoun that points to it is in the subordinate modifying phrase. The second part does the reverse. This disrupts parallel structures.

This is question #244 in the OG 10th. Below is what the book says about answer A (quoted from page 755):

In A, the construction unlike men of science, their female counterparts violates rules of parallelism and syntax. It would best be rendered as unlike men of science, women of science...

IMO E! Unlike men...women. Not their.

kobel51 wrote:Like their male counterparts, women scientists are above average in terms of intelligence and creativity, but unlike men of science, their female counterparts have had to work against the grain of occupational stereotyping to enter a "man's world."

(A) their female counterparts have had to work

(B) their problem is working

(C) one thing they have had to do is work

(D) the handicap women of science have had is to work

(E) women of science have had to work

Clue lies in the phrase "unlike men of science". --> Comparison type

A & B) Eliminate. Their is incorrect.

(C) one thing they (What does they refer here?) have had to do is work

(D) the handicap (Can't compare men vs handicap)women of science have had is to work

Hence, E