Nobel laureate Tim Hunt resigned from his position at University College London (UCL) after remarking on his trouble with “girls” in laboratories.
At the World Conference of Science Journalists in Seoul, South Korea, Hunt said: “Let me tell you about my trouble with girls … Three things happen when they are in the lab … You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry.”
While some commentators have welcomed Hunt’s resignation, it does not cover over the issue that women are still underrepresented across almost every level of science.
In science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) jobs
According to the Women in Science and Engineering (Wise) campaign’s latest analysis of UK labour market statistics, women make up just 12.8% of the Stem workforce. The proportion had increased by only 0.2 percentage points since their analysis in 2012.
This has caused some concern for the UK government. In July 2012, the then business secretary, Vince Cable, said: “There’s no way we can generate the number of scientists and engineers the economy requires without addressing the situation.”
In university departments and enrolments
A science and technology select committee report on women in scientific careers last year contained the following statistic:
Women are under-represented at professorial levels across academic research careers in all Stem disciplines (typically 17% although there is variation between disciplines)
The proportion of boys studying science subjects is still considerably higher than the proportion of girls. The latest Higher Education and Skills Agency (HESA) statistics showed that in 2013-14 52% of male undergraduates were enrolled on a science course compared to 40% of females.
The gap increases when you get to postgraduate level, with 46% of male students on a science course compared with 34% of female ones.
In the classroom
In 2014 there were more male than female participants in all major A-level Stem subjects with the exception of biology, according to the Joint Council for Qualifications.
For the physics examination, 78.9% of those sitting the exam were boys. The proportion of those sitting it that were female decreased between 2013 and 2014 despite it increasing (albeit modestly) in all of the other core Stem subjects.
A recent OECD study found that girls lacked confidence in science and maths, even when their results were as good or better than boys’. In programme for international student assessment (Pisa) scores, UK girls perform worse in science than boys, with the gap being much bigger than in other countries.
